Afraid of Love
by OhMyLeppy
Summary: SuFin. Human AU. Tino has just moved to Australia, working in a big restaurant for his creepy French boss. Life is good, but he is still lonely. That's when he meets (crashes into) Berwald and gets the life scared out of him. Berwald, who is immediately infatuated with him, tries to show him love. But Tino has a dark secret that has left him terrified of love. Can Berwald help him?
1. Chapter 1

**Tino's P.O.V**

"Come on, aren't you going to help set the plates out?" I pleaded as I balanced a huge stack of plates and began placing them on the lavishly decorated tables.

"No, I'm drinking my tea; I don't have time to help you." I rolled my eyes at Roderick's response. Of course he was too busy drinking his tea. He wasalways too busy drinking tea.

"Like the time you were too busy to set out the chairs? Or clean the table cloths? Or order the ingredients? Or wash the dishes?"

"Oh, I wasn't too busy then," Roderick said as he stood up from where he had sat casually on one of the chairs. "I don't like the whole cleaning thing. I like being clean, but I'd rather have someone else do it for me."

"Huh? But you're like the cleanest person I know. I guess it makes sense. I'm certainly not clean. I'm terrible at cleaning; I always get soap and water everywhere, or I break the vacuum. Y'know, this one time, I managed to break my iron by tripping and it went outside my window and hit my neighbour! He wasn't too happy about that and he made me pay this huge fine for it! It wasn't my fault, how was I supposed to know? I had no money after that, but I really didn't have much in the beginning. That was before I worked here, of course. But really, I'm a huge spender! As soon as I see something I want, I buy it. It's kind of a curse, really. Ooh! I heard this thing about curses from my cousin, he said that if-"

"Tino?" Roderick cut me off. "You're babbling again."

I blushed furiously. I hate it when I babble; everyone always gets so bored or annoyed with me. "Oh, sorry. I didn't realise."

Roderick raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Well, obviously." But instead of teasing me further, he took half of the plates from me and walked away with them. I was about to thank him when he promptly tripped over and smashed every single plate.

"Ahh! Roderick are you alright!?" I cried as I rushed over to him. "Are you bleeding? Do you need first aid, or a doctor? I know a really good doctor! Tell me what hurts!"

"My ears, that's what!" Roderick groaned and slowly stood up. "I'm fine. I didn't fall on any plates. Though there is one thing…" Before I could react, Roderick grabbed me by my shoulders and yelled into my face. "Forget what you saw! Un-see what was just seen! Un-see! Un-see!"

I flinched away from him. "O-okay!" I shuddered, deeply unsettled. "Just don't touch me."

Realisation dawned on Roderick's face. "Oh, right, you don't like people touching you. Forgive me, I forgot."

I shook my head and turned away. "It's okay, it doesn't matter."

After a few minutes of silence except for the quiet clinks of the plates, Roderick walked back to the kitchen. "I'll go and clean this up." He said on his way. "Feliciano! I need you to clean a mess up!" I rolled my eyes. Of course by Roderick's standards, 'I'll go and clean this up." meant "I'll go and get someone else clean this up."

"He's such a snob." I muttered, grinning. I stretched when I finished placing my half of the plates out. Wow, this Castle de Soleil was a huge restaurant! How many tables did one place need? I had been working here for two months already, but I still wasn't used how big everything was compared to my little town back in Finland. Well, I guess Australian's do like everything to be big. Not that my boss is Australian himself. He's French, and to be honest, a bit creepy. With the way he looks at you… I shuddered. It was kind of obvious that he was a perv. Wait, what am I doing!? I can't think that my boss is a perv! That would seriously jinx me!

I glanced at the intricate clock that hung directly in the middle of the wall. Ugh, why was it in Roman Numerals!? They are so hard to read! After a bit of squinting, I eventually worked out that it was almost seven am. The restaurant was about to open! I always got a bit giddy around this time. There were always so many people here! They would be laughing and Roderick would play the piano (it had taken him awhile to convince the boss to let him) and Feliciano would zoom around the place at lightning speed! He would also probably knock some things over, but still. It was always the same. I sighed happily to myself. Like clockwork. I loved the order of it all. Okay, Feliciano breaking things and Roderick randomly playing symphonies and ignoring work itself might not be orderly, but I like the fact that I know exactly what will happen in my day.

I heard several things fall behind me and Feliciano's whine. I smiled. Yep, my day was already starting.

-Berwald's P.O.V-

I blushed as one of the dogs licked my nose darted away. I rubbed my nose and stood back up. All of the little dogs yipped and wagged their little tails as best as they could while they jumped around. I didn't know which one to choose; they were all so, well, cute. And the Rescue Shelter's Assistant wasn't making it any easier. He kept glancing at me as if I was a demon about to eat him. Surely I'm not that scary? I looked at him to ask a question, but I stopped myself when he yelped in fright. I sighed. Maybe I was.

"Well, I think I should get a smaller dog." I said slowly to the assistant, Dave, hoping that if I spoke slower he wouldn't be as scared. I was wrong.

"O-oh really? Someone as big as you? N-not that I'm criticising, I just…Uh, please follow me!" Dave nervously laughed and led the way down the hall.

To pass the awkward silence I began to hum, which made Dave jump a mile in the air and nearly shriek. Okay, no humming.

"Uh, here we are. These are our smallest dogs." I bent over and peered into the cage. These dogs were much more hyper than the others.

" 'ello there." I greeted to a particular fluffy white dog. The assistant gave me a strange look but flinched back when I returned his gaze. I don't blame him; my constant glare is a side effect of my poor eyesight. I have to squint to see people who are barely three feet away. The glasses barely help me. Not that I had changed them since I got them seven years ago. Maybe I should, now that I'm in Australia.

I chuckled to myself (I guess it came out like a growl, judging by the assistants reaction) as the little cotton ball jumped up against the glass and started yipping. "You're not scared of me, now are you?" I turned back to Dave. "Can I pick one up?"

"Uh, well, I don't think you should."

"Why not?"

Dave blinked at my abrupt response. Well, in my defence I really wanted to pat its fluffy fur. "The puppies have just been vaccinated, it would be better if they were left alone in there."

"Oh. Then would it be okay if I put a deposit on one?"

"Oh, sure that's fine. Which one is it?"

I pointed inside the glass. "That one. The fluffy white one." I know it was sudden. I hadn't even held the dog yet, or knew its gender, but I needed that white dog. Something told me that it was perfect.

Dave smiled slightly. "Yeah, she's a cute one, isn't she?" Ah, so it was a girl. "Come around to the front and you can pay."

While Dave was turned around, I gave the fluffy puppy a little wave. "I'll be back soon." I murmured to her before walking away.

I smiled to myself as I walked away. I had just successfully almost-bought a puppy. I'm pretty sure that would make most happy. Apparently, I had to wait three weeks until I could come collect her. That was okay, I could wait. I would feel better knowing that when I next saw her she wouldn't be in any danger of diseases.

Some might think that it's strange that a big man like me would want a small, cute puppy. But I think that if they take a look at me and have a heart attack, but then they look again and see me with a little dog, they won't be so afraid of me. I think it will work.

But also, I want a dog because I'm lonely. Australia is great; it's a lot warmer than Sweden at least. I always see lots of people having fun with their friends… and then there's me. The loner. I've scared off everyone around me, so I guess I'll make friends with a dog. A dog who won't judge me, who won't be scared of me just because of how I look or how I act.

I just want a friend.

AN- Heyo, my creatures! Did you like the first chapter? I know it sucks, I promise it'll get better. You should know by now that I ramble when I write, so hear is what I've been typing when I'm stuck. Enjoy!

-"Like the time you were too busy to set out the chairs? Or clean the table cloths? Or order the ingredients? Or wash the dishes? Or paint the frogs? Or cut the cheese? Or eat the rainbows? Or jump off a cliff. God, Austria, you're so stupid!"

- "Forget what you saw! Un-see what was just seen! Un-see! Un-see! Un-see or I'll rip out your testicles through your eyes and EAT IT! ...Did you un-see?"

-Wow, this Castle de fuck fuck mcfuck fuck

Wow, this Castle de RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA R

Wow, this Castle de dsicposjcfdfdcfdscsdocpdksd

Wow, this Castle de french bloody word because I DONT CARE! I LOVE IT! I LOVE IT!

Wow, this Castle de ...explosion.

-Well, I guess Australian's do like everything to be big THATS WHAT SHE SAID... Or is it that's what France said?

-To pass the awkward silence I began to eat Dave. Dave the assistant died.

-The assistant gave me a strange look but flinched back when I started chewing on his bladder infection

-Maybe I should, now that I'm in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory

-I turned back to Dave. "Can I eat you?"

"Uh, well, I don't think you should."

"Why not?"

-Dave smiled slightly. "Arr, she be a cute one, yes she be!"

-I would feel better knowing that when I next saw her she wouldn't be in any danger of AIDS.

-But also, I want a hooker because I'm lonely.

-I just want a male stripper.


	2. Chapter 2

**Afraid of Love**

**Chapter Two**

**Tino's P.O.V**

"Thank you, is there anything else you'd like? We're having a special on the escargot this evening." I informed the customer with the brightest smile I had. My bright personality -or at least, how well I faked being nice- was one of the reasons I was hired. After the man politely declined, I zoomed off to the next table and repeated the same process with them. The same goes for the next table. As well as the next, and the next, and the next. Oh yeah, and also the next ten tables. Jeez, now I remember why we had so many tables. They were all full! And I only had to wait on the first floor's tables. Feliciano had to do the second and Roderick had to do the top floor. Not that Roderick stuck around there any way, my floor was the only one with a piano.

I half ran back to the kitchen to give the orders and catch some momentary piece. That didn't work. As usual, the kitchen was busier than a New York subway (well, I heard that they were busy). People ran back and forth like chickens with their heads chopped off, only they were a little more orderly. Someone slammed into and knocked me into the wall and just continued strutting off. I snorted. Nope, they weren't any more orderly. Roderick would be ashamed.

"Oh no, are you okay, mon ami?" My boss asked as he unnecessarily helped me stand straight with one arm around my waist. He let his arm stay there as if it wasn't invading my personal bubble _at all_ and continued staring at me.

I squirmed a little. "Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you, sir."

"No need to thank me, I wouldn't want to see you hurt."

I squirmed some more. Oh God, I'm gonna throw up. I'm gonna throw up! Stop touching me! I grimaced at the swirling feeling in my stomach. I could literally feel bile rising in my throat. "O-okay, I think I should go back to taking orders now, sir."

He finally let go of me, albeit regrettably, if I didn't know better. "Please, as I've said before, call me Francis. I do not feel as if there is any need for formalities between us."

I nodded. Of course, not unless you counted the fact that he could fire me. "Alright… Francis, I'll just go back now." I began to shuffle towards the doorway and eventually scrambled out, my boss watching me the whole time. He's so creepy!

**The Creepy Boss' P.O.V**

"Mathieu?" I called just after the little waiter disappeared. As always, my little brother popped out from seemingly nowhere, a clipboard in hand. I will never understand how he manages that.

"Yes?"

"You also saw that rude man smash recklessly into my little waiter?" My brother nodded. Of course Mathew had noticed; he was always watching and never missed anything. I think he got that trait from me. "Issue him a warning. If he wants a reason tell him to see me."

Mathew blinked owlishly. "M-may I ask why? You never usually make this much of a fuss over one person."

I shrugged. "I just do not think it is fair that such a little person is bullied in the work place." I brushed my hair back carefully and looked away from Mathew. When I looked back I saw him smiling at me knowingly. I sighed. Yes, as always, my brother noticed everything.

**Berwald's P.O.V**

_Bang! Bang! Bang!_

A few passer byes glared in the direction of the noise as I hammered the nails into the wood. Little kids pointed and laughed as they saw what I was building. A few older kids had tried to see if they could get past me and climb on board. They didn't get very far.

I was one of the many builders working on one of the old fashioned boats in Sydney Harbour. And by old fashioned, I meant pirate age. These ships were huge, correct down to the last detail. They looked like they had just sailed out of the Middle Ages.

Okay, so technically they weren't pirate ships. They were actually recreations of the naval officer's ships. There was even a man dressed as Captain Cook wandering around, wig and all. But still, they were close.

I smiled as I thought of the group of little kids who had come up to me and asked if I was a pirate. Who was I to shut them down? Now I have been named Captain Scary of the Cool Boat. They had really enjoyed playing pirates, and to be honest, so did I. Despite the name they had given me, those kids had liked me.

"Did you have fun slacking off?" A patronising voice asked behind me. A turned slowly to face one of the other workers. Sadly, I knew just how to handle this so I wouldn't be ridiculed.

I frowned a tiny fraction.

"Gah!" The man –or was it a woman? My eyesight wasn't helping- cried out as soon as they saw my face. "Jeez, calm down! I was only kidding! I barely do any work at all!" He/she clutched his/her chest and breathed deeply. "A guy as delicate as me can't handle a shock like that." Oh, so it was a man. Wait, what? If he was a man, why was he wearing a dress…?

The odd man flipped his neck length blonde hair out of his face and held out his hand. "I'm Felix, by the way."

I stared at the pink nails on his hand before slowly shaking it. Felix's eyes nearly fell out of his head before he snatched his hand away. "Whoa, calm down, dude. We're not having a strength battle. I think we both know who would win."

"I'm sorry." I mumbled, looking away. I really don't know how strong I am.

He shrugged and promptly sat on the ground beside me and looked up. "You're a newbie, right? I haven't seen you working here for a long time, unlike the others. And I know everyone who works here. What's your accent?"

I blinked and tried to keep up with his questions. "I moved here from Sweden a little over a month ago. Shouldn't y-"

"Swedish!? No wonder you're scary. Though, you weren't so scary when you were playing with those kids. Do you like kids?"

"Yes, I guess I-"

"Hey, can you say something in Swedish?"

"Uh, okay. You are very loud in Swedish is-"

"I'm Polish, by the way."

"Okay."

"Hey, what do you think about Australia? Do you like it? It's heaps sunny, but the seasons are so weird. Like, there is a two week delay when the seasons are supposed to start."

"…I suppose Aust-"

"And like, Mother Nature loves and hates them. Like, Australia has great sun and beaches, but it also has bush fires, hurricanes and floods. I'm not sure about earthquakes, though. What about weather in Sweden? Is it always so cold?"

"Well-"

"Ooh, what about the animals? I mean, have you seen an emu? They are the scariest things ever!"

I quickly butted in before he could launch on another tirade. "Shouldn't we be getting back to work?" Okay, _maybe_ I was a bit blunt.

Felix blinked. "Oh yeah, you should be working." I sighed in relief and turned back to hammering in wooden planks. Five minutes later, I turned around to grab some more nails when I saw Felix was not only still there, but was also in the weirdest position I had ever seen. He was on his back rocking; I think he was imitating a turtle. Well, now I knew that he was wearing pants, they were just very short.

"Uh," I cleared my throat. I hoped he wouldn't notice my blush. "Shouldn't you be working on the ship, too?"

"Huh?" Felix said, looking at me between his legs. He unfurled himself and stood up, before bursting out laughing. "Me? Do actual work? No way, I don't even work here! I work in a hair dresser's not far away."

I frowned. So I have just been speaking to a random stranger? I suppose it makes sense that he doesn't work here, with the way he dresses… "So, why are you here?"

"Well, I always come here to spend time with my boyfriend, Toris, and annoy him." That explains everything. "But he's doing a very critical part of the boat and says that he can't be bothered. So, I just talk to my friends around here. They also work on this boat. And then I found you, the newbie. Now I have another friend!"

I felt the corners of my mouth tug. I was someone's friend. Sure, Felix was a little weird, but he was funny, in a way. At least I wouldn't have to talk much.

I tried to ease my glare-stare a little. "I suppose it's nice, having a friend."

Felix grinned. "You bet it is!" Once again, he curled into that weird turtle position and started rocking. Yes, Felix was definitely a little weird. But he was my friend. Maybe I could be friends with Toris too?

**AN- I'm sorry that these chapters so meh short and crappy. It's only because I'm introducing everyone! It'll get better, I promise.**

**Mistakes-**

**-"...And then I found you, the hooker. Now I have another hooker!"**

**- "Felix shut the hell up!"**

**- I'm tired. It's 5 am. I've been up all night. NYAH!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: In case you didn't realise, this will be updated every Monday**

**Afraid of love**

**Chapter 3**

**Tino's P.O.V**

"Hey, Eduard." I called tiredly as I dragged myself into our apartment. The place wasn't exactly big, but it wasn't the smallest either. But it seemed small because of all the clutter I have. What can I say? I collect things.

"You're home late." My roommate commented from the lounge, barely looking up from his book. "How are you?"

"My boss creeped on me again and I'm tired. I didn't get away until seven, and it always takes me half an hour to walk here." I paused and waved a hand in front of his face. "Didn't you hear me? I said I have to _walk_ from the restaurant to here! Aren't you sympathetic!?"

Eduard half smiled. "Well, you could always buy a car."

I threw my hands up dramatically. "I don't even have a license yet. I have to sit the exam again. Why can't you drive me?"

Eduard looked at me like I'd slapped him, and didn't even dignify my question with a response. I guess I can't expect any better; not after the last time I was in his car… "Well, you could catch the bus?" Eduard suggested.

"Ew, no way. Do you know how crowded and dirty that would be? Besides, I have to get some of this weight off. I look like a girl! But it doesn't mean I have to be happy about it!"

Eduard hid a grin behind his book. "How about getting a bike? You'd lose weight and get there faster."

I stared at him, horrified. "A bike? A bike? I'm not that stupid! I don't know how to ride a bike! Oh, stop snickering. No one taught me!"

Eduard held his breath in an effort to stop laughing. Insensitive jerk. Once he had calmed himself, he asked "Why weren't you taught? That's one of the first things a parent teaches. It's a milestone."

I turned away from him quickly. "Yeah, well mine didn't." I said quietly. I wandered into the kitchen. "Did you eat already?"

"No, I was waiting for you."

"Oh, okay." I looked through the cupboards for something to eat. There was virtually nothing. Great, now I'll have to walk to a shopping centre. This was seriously messing with my diet! I shouldn't be walking this much. I'll get sick at this time of night!

I collapsed into a chair near Eduard to catch a breather before I left. Instead of sitting normally, I sat sideways on it so my feet and head were dangling off both of the edges. Of course, this made me incredibly dizzy, but I think its fun. "So, how was your day?"

Eduard, who was used to my weird antics, barely registered my odd position and said "Fine, but the new guy is being a pain again."

I grinned. "Asking too many questions again, is he?" Eduard worked as an IT teacher at a school near the harbour. Recently, a trainee had been assigned to him and was annoying the hell out of him. I don't think it's the trainee's fault; it's good to be interested in what you're doing.

"Yes! 'Uh, what does this do? What does that do? What do you do? What do I do? What happens if I press this? Where does this go? Why is there a stain on your pants? How did it get there? Why were you drinking that? Did it taste nice? What did it taste like? Is that why you were drinking it? Is that why the stain is there? Did you drop it? Why did you drop? Oh, why was that? Why were you doing that? Did you need to do that? Wait- why was the stain there again?' And then, five minutes later, he'll come back saying he forgot and repeat the same freaking process all over again!" Eduard sighed and dumped his book on the table. I cracked up laughing. Eduard was usually a nice, polite guy, but when he gets worked up about something…

"Seriously," he continued. "That guy can ask questions about anything. And he's is completely serious, too! Seriously, you could say 'I like cheese.' And he'll be 'What did you say? You like _cheese_? Why do you like _cheese_? Is it because of the smell? Is it because of the taste? What did it taste like? Yeah, but what does _cheese_ taste like? Yeah, I know what _cheese_ tastes like. But what flavour was it? Was it _cheese flavour?_ What type of cheese? Was it _blue_ cheese? Wait- say it again? Why do you like cheese?'"

I held my sides as I laughed. I was laughing so hard that I was silent! I ended up rolling onto the floor and continued laughing. After a while my laughs slowly calmed down until I could talk- or at least breathe. "I-I dare you to go up to him and say 'I like cheese.' Just to see what he'll do!"

Eduard glared at me. "Over my dead body will I _ever_ initiate a conversation of my own will with that idiot. From now on, you are not allowed to speak of him! Or cheese!"

I giggled. "What if I decide to get macaroni and _cheese?"_

Eduard rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Tino."

I just grinned and stood up. "Alright, I'll see you later, since someone is too lazy to do it themselves and leaves me to walk _all the way_ in the cold to the shopping centre. All alone."

"Remember our agreement, Tino. You shop this week, I shop next week. It's only fair."

"What if I'm attacked in an alleyway?"

"Have fun being murdered. I promise that I'll morn your passing."

I sighed. "Can't I borrow your car at least?"

"Not even when I'm dead. When I die, the car will not go to you in the will, it will be buried with me."

I laughed and grabbed my coat. "Of course."

** Berwald's P.O.V**

What should I buy? I pushed the trolley to the animal section. Well, dogs need food. What would a little dog eat? I searched the cans up and down. I don't think a dog would eat tuna; maybe I'll just by a steak and hope for the best? No, I can't do that.

I was in the local Coles looking for… pet things, but I wasn't having much luck. Maybe I should go to Pet Mart, the Number One Stop to Love Your Pet Shop, according to the slogan. I was having a problem as I had no idea what to get for the puppy. I kept looking around, hoping that a shop assistant will come and rescue me, but they all had seemed to have disappeared… Oh well.

I decided on some little cans of beef and went to find a bed for her. She was little, so I would need something according. A box wouldn't do, so maybe that basket? It was small and it had a pillow in the bottom. It was only slightly hard. I stared forlornly at the list in my hand. Ugh, I am not good at shopping.

I grunted as someone bumped into me from behind, causing me to drop my list.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking and I didn't see you!" Someone frantically apologised behind me. Two things happened when I turned around to face him; he screamed and I fell in love with an angel.


	4. Chapter 4

**Afraid of Love**

**Chapter 4**

**Tino's P.O.V**

"OYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" I screamed. What was with this guy's face!? I must have seriously pissed him off! He was so scary! I stopped screaming and looked around, blushing as everyone was staring at me. I raised a hand up. "It's okay, everyone! M-my mistake! Sorry, yeah, I'm sorry I woke your baby up. Sorry, heh heh." Oh, this was so awkward. Now I had to deal with the guy that I had slammed into.

Now that I really looked at him, I guess he wasn't so scary. Actually, rather than glaring at me as if I'd amped up global warming, he looked rather stunned. To be honest, he was a little cute. He had really nice jaw bones. And now that I think about it, he looked rather fit, too. Really fit. And tall. And look at those eyes!

The big man blushed. Aw, he had such a cute blush. I hoped it wasn't because he had noticed my once –or maybe twice- over of him. "Hello." He said. Aw! Why was he so adorable? And why did I find that adorable? I guess I'm a little weird. Wait! What the hell is wrong with me!? First I'm terrified and now I'm acting as if he's a teddy bear!

I smiled at him with as much charm as possible. Maybe if I was nice, he won't kill me? "Hi, I'm so sorry." Oh God, stop laughing! He's gonna be angry! But I couldn't stop myself. I had to laugh; I always laugh when I'm nervous. It's not as funny as you'd think. It's always really awkward. Especially now with the intense way he was staring at me.

"I love you." He said. I stopped smiling. Okay, he was no longer a teddy bear.

"What!?" I almost shrieked.

The man's glare came back and he looked away hurriedly. I found myself smiling again at how awkward he looked. It's not my fault he looked so confused and lost! And cute, I mustn't forget cute. Okay, time to focus.

"Hey, is this yours?" I asked as I picked up what looked like a list. Unable to help myself –hey, I was curious!-, I glanced at the contents. It looked like he was shopping for dog. "Ooh! Do you have dog? I really like dogs! What type is it?" I handed him his list. "I know a friend that works at this place that cut's dog's hair really good!"

"O-oh, okay."

I waited for him to continue. I then blushed, realising why we were talking in the first place. "Uh, yeah, so I'm sorry, I'll just go now." I turned quickly and almost ran out of the shop. Damn, I didn't even get his name.

**The cute teddy bear's P.O.V**

No, don't go. I sighed. Why did I have to scare him off? Why do I have to say everything I think? 'I love you'? Ugh, no wonder he ran away. There was nothing wrong with speaking your mind, but something like that to a complete stranger? He had such a cute accent, too. I wonder what it was?

I looked at my list. I could see a smudge from the man's fingerprint on the corner. I entertained a fantasy of tracking the angel with it and eventually finding him. The angel would be so swept away by my dedication that he would marry me on the spot and we would ride ponies into the sunset. No, we would both ride on one stallion with his arms wrapped around me. Yes, that would be nice.

I shook my head. I could finish shopping tomorrow.

**AN: Heyo, my creatures! I'm sorry that this chapter was short, I just cut chapters off where ever I feel is right. And now it's serious time.**

**Look up this radio station's website. The station is 2day fm. It isn't hard to fined. Now scroll down and you'll eventually find some link/picture that says It's Time Australia. This is the link to a petition that is for gay marriage. It isn't legal yet in Australia because our Prime Minister hates us. Most likely. I've sent the link to so many people it would mean so much if you signed it.**

**I fahking cried because my computer wouldn't load whenever I tried to sign it :( I was so angry too! And no, I'm not gay myself, but obviously I'm a big supporter of gay people and I have two gay 2nd cousins. PLEASE JUST SIGN IT!**

**Now for my mistakes-**

**-"I love you." He said. I stopped smiling. Okay, he was no longer a teddy bear.**

**"ME TOO!" I almost shrieked.**

**- "KISS MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" I screamed.**

**-And rather than staring at me as if I'd kidnapped a bunch of puppies, tied them to a train track, set their corpes off fire and danced around singing This Girl Is On Fire with a witty substitute for Girl and twiddling my curled moustache like a cartoon villan and then telling my children they were mistakes and telling my mother that I hate her. (note- I was literally going to use this).**


	5. Chapter 5

**Afraid of Love**

**Chapter five**

**AN- I'm sorry this is late! My excuse is that I was really sick, lazy and everyone was using type computer. As I said, I'm sick. I'm a kid, so of course I'm having a pity party. Please don't hate me.**

Tino hummed to himself as he skated through the gardens- or, if you wanted to be fancy, the botanic gardens. There were so many flowers! Just flowers and flowers and flowers and grass and yet even more flowers! It had been a while since he'd had some time to himself and he was enjoying every second of it. For once he wasn't hurrying around tables or buying groceries. No, today was his day. So, he had decided to do something he always wanted to try; roller blading.

It was going good… now. For the first half an hour, Tino had been trying to figure out why his butt constantly thought that it should be sticking in the air while his face was mashed into the ground. He then realised that it might be a good idea to put the shoes on the right feet. Not that it helped, much. He had been clutching at the hand rail for the better part of the hour. Or maybe it was three hours? He wasn't sure. But now he had gotten the hang of it! Sure, he was a bit wobbly, and he had fallen a few times, but now he could at least skate without holding onto the hand rail.

Tino smiled up at the sun. "Australia is such sunny country." He said absentmindedly to himself. "Except in winter, and autumn, and sometimes in spring…. To be honest, it's mostly just sunny in summer. Huh. Well, I suppose I can't say much. It's not like I've been here that long. But Roderick keeps going on and on about the weather…" Tino blushed and quickly ducked his head as a mother up ahead turned around and looked at him strangely. 'I guess I was talking just a bit too loud.' He thought, embarrassed.

Then his thoughts took on a sadder tone. 'It would be nice if I had someone to talk to.' Tino knew plenty of people. He had Eduard, but he was always at work for the majority of the day and then later he would be working on things for his students. There was Roderick, of course. He was great, but Roderick was way too lazy or, like now, working on a composition to come hang out with him outside of work. Plus, he was a little bit older. It'd be nice if he knew someone his own age. There was Feliciano, but he was a little… well, hanging out with Feli was a bit like babysitting.

No, Tino knew many people, but in a way he was still alone.

Tino shook his head. It wouldn't do him any good to think like that. He would just have to think positive! He would just have to make more friends. The thought made a smile grace Tino's lips. He was a likable person, right? It shouldn't be too hard.

Tino's positive thinking was interrupted as he found himself slamming into what felt like a brick wall and several loud yips erupted into the air. Let me repeat that, _slamming_ into a _brick wall._ Or at least that's what he thought it was. "Ugh, I really should watch where I'm going." Tino groaned as he clutched his elbow. He looked up to see the most terrifying, yet familiar, face glaring at him.

"Oh, this really isn't my day."

**The Brick Wall's (Berwald's) P.O.V**

**Earlier during the day**

Berwald strode through the garden happily. He smelt the flowers, he sat on a bench, he had some coffee, he did whatever he wanted, because for the first time in a long, long time, he was completely happy.

Why, you may ask, was he so happy? Well, maybe it had something to do with the fact that he had… a new dog! And not just a new dog, but his first pet ever! Berwald wasn't a childish person, but right now he couldn't help himself. He smiled at his new friend who barked back at him happily. Maybe it was more of a yip.

She was adorable. She kept straining against her leash and jumping as she reached its limit. Then she'd run back to Berwald and run around his legs, effectively tying him up but still cute. She seemed very happy with her new owner, smothering him with nudges, little doggy licks and wagging her stun of her tail (well, she really was wagging her whole bottom). There was just one problem; Berwald had no idea what to call her.

He had told the people at the pound that he would write her name down at another time, but that was just a band aid solution. He really had no idea about naming pets. What would you name a small, fluffy dog like her? Fifi? No. Fluffy? No. Snowy? No. Paws? …maybe. Was this what parents felt like when they were naming their first born? What about naming her after her personality? It wasn't like he had known her that long, but she seemed like a really happy, excitable little dog? How about Happy? No. Peppy? No. Cutie? That probably wasn't a personality attribute…

He sighed. Well, he had time. Up ahead of him, his little dog who had been stalking several ants, suddenly stopped and collapsed. Frowning, Berwald hurried over to see nothing was wrong. He smiled and sighed with relief as he saw that she was just resting. He gently picked her up and cradled her in his arms, like one would do with a new born baby. Berwald noticed as he walked, carrying his precious parcel, that he did get quite a few odd looks from passer-byes. He guessed the dog and him did make quite an odd pair. Before he could ponder this thought, his fluffy bundle started wriggling and yipping as it tried to escape. As soon as he placed her on the ground she was off, hunting for more ants.

As Berwald was too busy thinking of names, he was too late to react as someone crashed into is from behind. Even with his entire soldier's training*, he still didn't manage to catch the person who rebounded off of him.

**Now**

'This is the best day ever!' Berwald thought ecstatically. Here was the angel he had met nearly a week ago right at his feet! He had known it was meant to be. Berwald felt his happiness suffer a blow. But know he was lying on the ground, hurt, all because Berwald had been to slow to catch him. Quickly, he reached down to help him up. Apparently he had been too quick, because the man flinched and shuffled a little away from him. Berwald sighed, why did he have to scare everyone?

"Are you okay?" he asked as gently as he could. This at least seemed to calm the younger man.

The man nodded, blushing slightly before ducking his head. 'He has an adorable blush.' Berwald thought immediately.

"I-I'm fine, d-don't worry. I'm sorry, I wasn't looking…again. I swear I'm not doing this on purpose! I'm not following you or anything!" Berwald felt his heart leap when he heard that he had been remembered. 'He probably just remembers me as the scary guy… Great first impression." He added glumly.

The blonde met his gaze wearily. "Please don't be mad."

Berwald frowned and concentrated on working a smile onto his face. He almost succeeded; a corner of his mouth was up, at least. "I'm not mad."

He looked at him doubtfully. "Are you sure? …Did I hurt you or something? You look like you're in pain. Gosh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you! You are the last person I would ever hurt!"

'Well, this is awkward. I can't even smile.' Berwald thought as he listened to him babble nervously. He dropped his awkward smile and held out a hand to help him up. He drew it back as he watched the other eye it nervously, as if Berwald were about to hit him with it. "Are you hurt at all?" he asked the smaller blonde.

The blonde shook his head and tried to climb up. Berwald could tell that he had been lying as he saw him wince as he put pressure on his arms. "I'm just a little accident prone." Just as he put his weight on his feet, the wheels caused him to pitch forward. Berwald quickly caught him just before he smashed his face into the ground. He carefully helped the man to a nearby bench.

"Uh, thanks." The man said with a small smile that made butterflies swirl in Berwald's stomach. He looked away as he felt his face begin to burn and he readjusted his glasses.

"It's okay," he mumbled. "I wouldn't want to see you hurt yourself again." He mentally berated himself. He should be more careful about what he said! But he swore that out of the corner of his eye he saw the man's smile grow wider.

His attention was taken away from him as a new source of complications and cuteness made itself known by jumping up onto his lap.

"Oh my gosh, you do have a dog! Oh, you're so cute!" Before Berwald could react, his new puppy was taken off of his lap and into the blonde's arms. He watched amusedly as the funny little blonde buried his face in his dog's fur and proceeded to talk to it in a baby-voice. "Hello, you're so cute! Look at you! Look at your fur! Aw, I want one! What's your name? Do you have fun with Mr Strong and Silent over there? Do you? Do you? Hmm, I bet you want your tummy scratched, don't you? Yes you do!" The man paused to take a breath before rubbing the little dog as much as humanly possible. "Ah, tickle tickle tickle tickle! Ah, tickle tickle tickle tickle! You like that, don't you? Yes you do! Aw, I could just take you home with me. You're like a little fluffy pillow! " Berwald couldn't help but feel a little jealous at all the attention his puppy was getting. Why couldn't he be tickled? The man stopped fawning over his dog for the moment and looked at him, grinning. "What's her name?"

Berwald's eyes widened. But before he could try to answer, he was cut off. "Hang on, sorry; what's your name first? I'm Tino!"

Realisation dawned on Berwald. 'Ah, he's Finnish!'

"I'm Berwald. And I haven't thought of a name for her yet; I just adopted her."

"Oh! Then I suppose you want her back." The Finn blushed and placed the small dog onto Berwald's lap. "So, Berwald where are you from? I can't figure out your accent."

He had been trying to find out his accent? Did that mean that he had been thinking about him? "I'm from Sweden."

Tino's eyes widened comically. "Ooh, our countries are practically neighbours, then. Cool!"

"You're from Finland, then?"

Tino's gaze slid away from Berwald's. "Yeah," he said quietly. "I'm from Finland."

Sensing that the Finn did not want to speak of his homeland -and also not liking his sudden mood change- Berwald changed the subject. "Is your arm okay?"

Tino's eyes widened again, but this time out of guilt. "Huh?"

"Your arm. You looked like you were favouring it."

Tino's gaze slid down to his left arm. "It's not too bad. My elbow just hurts a little." He shrugged. "It'll go away."

Berwald frowned. "Let me see it."

"What? No, it's really oka- Hey!" Tino flinched away as Berwald tried to roll up his sleeve. "Don't touch me!"

Berwald frowned. He wasn't giving up that easily. Gently, he took hold of the Finn's upper arm and nudged his sleeve up, despite the man's half-hearted protests. Already, he could see the swelling and some bruising. Letting go of him, he looked at Tino directly. "We need to take you to a doctor."

Tino snorted. "I'm fine. I'll just put ice on it." Of course, Berwald was not easily deterred.

"You're going to see a doctor, even if I have to carry you there myself." His dog yipped, as if in agreement.

The smaller blonde huffed. "Why are you so persistent? On the only occasions we've met, I've crashed into you!" At the lack of Berwald's answer, the Finn finally gave in. "Fine, I'll go. But you are not carrying me!" With much more savageness than necessary, Tino ripped off the roller blades, revealing some very odd figures on the side of his socks.

"What? I like Moomins!" Tino said defensively. "And now I get to ruin my favourite socks walking." He pouted.

"Well," Berwald began slowly. "I could still carry you, if you want."

Tino looked away, preventing Berwald from seeing his reaction. "No, I'm fine. I'll just take my socks off." After rolling his socks into a ball and tucking them into his pocket he stood up, planning to walk swiftly ahead of him. This didn't happen, as the pavement was burning because of Australia's famous sunny days. Well, Australia is only three kilometres away from the sun!

"YAH! Hot! Hot! Hot! I don't like it!" Tino cried as he jumped up and down. Berwald, ever the gentleman, swiftly picked him up without thinking about it. And he was just as swiftly elbowed in the face.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing!? I didn't say you could touch me! Let go! Let go!" Tino tried to wriggle out of Berwald's grip, but he was too strong.

Berwald looked at him confused. "But you were in pain."

"I don't care! I'll take pain over being held! Put me _the hell_ down!"

Well, that wasn't encouraging. "I'm sorry, I thought I was helping." Berwald gently set him down. Tino walked a few steps away from him, taking deep breaths to calm himself. He turned around and analysed Berwald with a critical eye. Berwald suddenly had an incredible fascination with a particular spot of pavement at his feet.

Tino sighed. "I'm sorry, it's okay. I just have some issues with contact." Tino shrugged and smiled at him, but he didn't look… happy. Like it was forced. Not many people would have been able to pick up on that, but Berwald had some… experience, let's say, in reading people. What was the Finn hiding from him? "It's no biggie. Now come on, weren't we going to see a doctor?"

Berwald nodded and tugged his dog's leash. "Yeah, let's go."

***Remember this! It shall be important… heh heh heh. Any questions, creatures? I would like to tease you all with my knowledge on everything in this story. :D**

**ARE YOU KIDDING ME SPELLCHECK!? You don't let me write SHIT but you let me write BIGGIE!? THAT'S NOT EVEN A WORD! *sigh***

**So, what do you think of this so far? Am I doing anything wrong? Ooh, also remember whenever I mention Tino's home and family.**

**Now, I promise that I will go back to updating on Mondays. I'm going to go hug my tissue box and hide from the world.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Afraid of Love**

**Chapter 6**

**Tino's P.O.V**

Tino walked out of the doctor's office glumly. His doctor, Dr Chris Furner, had told him that he had to wear a sling for two weeks to keep his arm in place. Apparently he had twisted it. Berwald, who must have seen his expression, stood up from one of the hard waiting room chairs and fell into step with him.

Tino groaned. "I have to wear this for two weeks. _Two weeks_, Berwald! This sucks."

"I'm sorry, I should have caught you."

He waved his apology off. "Nah, its fine. I fell over heaps more times before I bumped into you."

Berwald still seemed concerned. "I'll pay whatever bills there are."

He looked at him, shocked. "What? No, you don't need to do that. I'd feel weird if I borrowed money off you. I don't like owing people."

Berwald shook his head. "You wouldn't be borrowing. You can keep it, don't worry about it."

"No, absolutely not. I can pay it myself." Berwald's frown increased, but he didn't pursue the subject. It felt weird that a person he had just met (under strange consequences, too) would help him so much. Huh, maybe he had just made a new friend?

He cleared his throat. "Uh, so anyway, I should be getting home now. It was nice seeing you again, I guess. Thank you so much for your help!" He took a few steps back. This sucked, how was he meant to see him again? It's not like he could just follow him home… No! Stalking was not permitted!

Unless he was mistaken, and he probably wasn't, Berwald seemed a little sad he was leaving. "Oh, well, you're welcome." He murmured, blushing.

"Okay, bye!" Tino turned and started walking away. It couldn't end like this. Ugh, he had to do something! He turned back around and called out to Berwald, stopping him mid-step. "Hey! Do you want my number?" He tugged on his sleeve nervously. Which was a hard thing to do, considering that his sleeves were only to his shoulder.

Berwald blinked in surprise. "…Sure."

Tino beamed and practically skipped over to him. "Okay, give me your hand."

"What?" Berwald's face blushed. And Berwald had thought that he was the one moving fast.

Tino pulled out a pen from his pocket. "So I can right my number on it, dummy."

Berwald raised an eyebrow slightly at the remark, but still held up his hand. He fought at the urge to twitch or grab Tino's hand as it held his wrist with long, slender fingers. He scribbled digits onto his palm, even moving onto his fingers for more space.

"Okay, I'm done!" Tino bounced away from him. "Oh, drop by anytime at the Castle de Soleil and you can have a free drink and a discount. I work there."

"Oh, thank you." Berwald looked away. He did that a lot. Oh no, did Tino make him feel uncomfortable!? "Do you want my phone number?"

"Definitely!" Tino quickly jotted down Berwald's number. He grinned. "I'll see you later then, Berwald." He bent down and scratched the little dog's ear. "And I'll see you as well, cutie!" Tino waved at them as he walked way. He bit his lip to prevent himself from laughing as Berwald waved back with enthusiasm.

Yep, this was his day.

"I'm back!" Tino called cheerfully as he entered his apartment. "Eduard, are you here?"

"I'm here." Eduard called back distractedly from the lounge room. Tino saw the reason for this when he joined him. Eduard was frowning as he looked over a list on his laptop.

"What's the matter?"

"The students! I set a task for them over three weeks ago and only a quarter of them have uploaded it to the website."

Tino sat on the arm chair. "Well, when was it due?"

"Last week."

"Oh, well then they're lazy." Tino grinned. "How's your trainee?"

Eduard spun around and jabbed a finger at him. "Don't you even sta- Oh, Tino, your arm! What happened?"

"Huh?" Tino glance at the sling. "Oh, I fell over a lot in the park and twisted it. It's no biggie."

Eduard raised an eyebrow. "You fell over a lot? Tino, you twisted your arm! What were you doing?"

"I was learning to rollerblade!" I said defensively. "Uh, I may have failed. Does it still count if you injure yourself?"

"I don't think so." Eduard said, deadpanned. He sighed. "Anyway, I have to go shopping. Do you want to come?"

Tino shook his head. "No, you didn't come with me last time. I'm not showing you any sympathy." He held up his arm. "Besides, I now have an excuse to stay home."

Eduard rolled his eyes. "Okay, whatever. Besides, I have to buy new equipment for the assembly next week." He grabbed his keys and headed towards the door.

"Don't expect me to be awake!" I called to him as he left before trotting off to my room.

_Tino's dream_

_Little Tino wandered around their small kitchen. It was dark. It must be really early, or maybe it was really late? The wood creaked as his small feet stepped on them. He shivered. It was always cold here, but somehow it was different. There was an unsettling feeling clawing its way through him. Tino felt his stomach swirl at the fear that ate at him. Something was wrong._

_"Mama?" he called. His throat felt sore. It was hard to speak. "Where are you?" He didn't understand why, but that was the wrong thing to ask. He shouldn't be looking for her. But why?_

_He stumbled over the tattered rug. He bent over and studied it, running his little hands along the creases. There was something underneath the rug! With trepidation, Tino pulled off the rug and stared at the latch underneath it. It was a trapdoor with a large, iron latch. He reached out his hand towards it, his fear increasing by the second. Tino was sick with foreboding. There was strong instinct that told him not to open that door; that whatever it was hiding would break him. But still, he reached for it…_

_End of dream._

"No!" Tino screamed as he woke up, drenched in sweat. He sat upright and panted, clutching his sheets tightly with balled fists. He gritted his teeth, but that didn't do much to stop the sobs that forced their way up through his throat. He buried his face in his pillow, trying to smother his crying to prevent Eduard from hearing.

"No," Tino muttered. "Never go into that room. Never! Just forget!" He held his knees and rocked himself slowly, hoping to calm himself. "Just forget, just forget…"

**AN- yeah yeah, I estimated how long he'd need a sling for. I don't know these things and Google wasn't helping. It fits in with my timeline, okay! Oh, and I almost feel completely better, thanks Jackay101 ;) they have The Power.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Afraid of Love**

**Chapter 7**

Francis smiled as he watched over his restaurant from the second floor. That person would pay double, those people were VIP's and pay much more, that person will be kicked out if they smoked again and that woman would be coming home with him.

Or maybe not, he thought as he noticed a certain cute blonde ask for her order. Tino was one of his favourites. He was just so adorable, with the way he walks, avoiding bumping into people. So polite. And whenever they spoke together, he would always duck his head and look away shyly. Francis certainly loved that blush Tino got whenever Francis got close to him, or "accidently" touched him.

If only he would stop shying away from his advances! He couldn't be oblivious. How could he not realise how Francis felt about him? It wasn't as if he hid it very well. Maybe he was just too shy? Francis sighed and rested his head on a hand. He would just have to try harder. He wondered how Tino would feel about roses. Francis grinned, and idea beginning to form.

Someone cleared their throat behind him. They did that three more times before Francis heard them and turned around. "Oh, Mathieu, I was just about to call for you."

Mathew nodded his head. Huh, maybe he had some sort of mind powers? Francis wouldn't be surprised; his brother could already turn invisible. "I was just going to ask if you needed anything, Francis. You have been looking down there for ten minutes now."

"Oh, really, I was? I was just thinking. It is of no importance."

Mathew walked next to Francis and peered over the edge. The restaurant was set out as a rectangle, with an empty square in the middle of the first and second floor. Just like one you would find in a shopping centre. There were small glass walls along the edges with glossy wooden handrails. Yes, even the hand rails were polished.

Mathew smiled as he picked out what had caught his brother's attention. The waiter, Tino, was busy taking orders. Mathew could tell why Francis liked him. But it was a little unusual to see him devote so much perving- uh, he meant, time to one person. Don't get him wrong, Tino was a cute little guy and a nice person, but he wasn't what Francis would usually go for. Francis was, as some put it, a player. He didn't care too much about the other's feelings. But now, something was different. Dare he say it, Francis might have more than just a physical attraction to this man. Mathew sighed. He just hoped that Francis wouldn't ruin it. Tino was delicate. Even if it meant blocking his brother, Mathew would protect him. Tino wasn't the only one with a dark past…

Mathew shook his head. "So, what was it that you wanted me to do?"

"Huh? Oh right, I would like you to send a basket of flowers, roses preferably," Francis quickly scribbled on a napkin. "To this address."

Mathew looked at the address sceptically. "Francis, how do you know Tino's address? I'm the one who handles those things."

Francis shrugged. "It is no big deal. I also have his phone number, mobile number, email and birth records."

Mathew's eyes widened. Well, it seemed that his brother wasted no time. "H-How did you get all of that?"

"I went through you file cabinet." Francis wrapped an arm casually around Mathew's shoulders and began walking with him. "You should really change that code lock. '4444'? Too easy."

Mathew frowned at him and pulled away, pulling out his clipboard. 'Seriously, where was he hiding that?' Francis wondered.

"So you want a basket of roses delivered to Tino's house?" Mathew grinned slyly. "May I ask why?"

Francis shrugged. "I just thought he needed to know that someone thought he was special." Noticing Mathew's frown, he asked what was wrong.

"You really shouldn't play with people's feelings like that. Especially Tino's; you know he's fragile."

"Mathieu, it's fine!" Francis brushed him off. "I'm not hurting him."

"How do you know that this won't hurt him?" Mathew forced Francis to stop and face him. "I'm sorry, but I won't help you unless you're serious about Tino."

Francis raised an eyebrow. "Serious? Really? I was thinking more about having some fun…" he trailed off, grinning faintly.

"No! You can't do this!"

Francis stopped smiling, and frowned. "Fine. If you won't help me, I'll do it myself. Some brother." He muttered as he started walking away. He grinned smugly to himself as he felt Mathew grab his shoulder.

"No, wait!" As much as he wanted no part of this, he didn't want Francis to be angry at him. His brother was one of the only people who really noticed him. He couldn't risk losing him. But still, maybe he could help Tino more if he was involved? "I'll help you. When do you want them delivered?"

"Have one delivered every Monday."

"Every Monday." Mathew repeated to himself as he wrote on his clip bored. "Okay, I got it. Anything else?"

"No, that's all for now."

"Hang on, Francis, who is going to pay for this?"

"Oh, I'm sure you can." Francis said casually over his shoulder, walking away.

Mathew nodded. "Okay, I can- wait, what!? Hey!"

Francis laughed and quickly ducked around the corner.

"Hey! That's not fair!" Mathew shouted- well, it was more of a whisper-shout- as he ran after Francis. Ugh, why did this always happen!?

"So, Tino, are you going to tell me what really happened?" Roderick asked as he sat at the only available table, crossing one leg over the other.

"I already told you. I fell over."

"You fell? I refuse to believe that's it."

Tino rolled his eyes. "Well that's all you're gonna get, so quit asking." He quickly ran off to a customer who had just raised their hand.

"Yes, ma'am? How may I help you?" Tino asked politely to a blonde woman.

The woman crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "Ma'am? Excuse me, but I'm not a woman. I'm a man, idiot."

Tino's jaw dropped, but he quickly rearranged his features until he was smiling again. This was a guy!? Was he kidding him!? "Oh, I apologise, sir. How may I-"

"Damn right you're sorry."

This person was starting to irritate him. "Uh, how may-"

"My food's cold." He said, shoving the plate away from him. God, this guy was rude.

"Uh, sir?"

"What?"

"It's meant to be cold… you ordered sushi."

The shemale was quiet for a moment. "Don't tell me what I ordered!" he snapped. "I'll eat it, just go." He huffed and flipped his neck length hair. Or should he say, his girly hair. It wasn't Tino's fault that he had thought he was a woman! He was wearing a dress for crying out loud!

Tino did his best to control his anger and walked back edgily to Roderick.

"Get up, Roderick." Tino snapped. "There will be more people coming and you're taking up their space."

Roderick snorted. "Well, sorry." He said, still not moving.

Tino huffed impatiently. "Get up! Shouldn't you be waiting on your floor?"

Roderick sniffed. "I was planning on playing a symphony. But if you don't want to hear my beautiful music, then I guess I will go."

"Aw, I like your symphonies." A woman said behind him. "But seriously, you need to get up." She grabbed Roderick's arm and lifted him out of his seat.

"Okay, okay." Roderick planted a kiss on her cheek. Tino quickly looked away, repressing a slight shudder. "How are you, Elizaveta?"

His wife smiled. "I'm good. And I can see that you're fine, too. Why don't you go back to wor- Tino, your arm!"

She quickly ran over and gently held his arm, God knows why. What was holding it going to do? "Oh no, Tino, what happened?"

Tino smiled at her, trying to reassure her. Elizaveta filled out the position of a mother better than his own did. "I'm fi-"

"I think he was beaten up." Roderick cut in. He smirked at Tino when his wife went into a rampage.

"What!?" Her head whipped around wildly, as if the person who had dared to hurt her friend was here. "Who did it? Tell me now so I can kill them!"

"Wait, no-"

"First I'm going to crush their skull-"

"Hang on-"

"…and pull out their insides…"

"Elizaveta, I'm oka-"

…and rip their testicles off…"

"I wasn't-"

"…with a frying pan!" She finally finished furiously. She stood there panting, trying to regain her composer. Jeez, Tino better not get on her bad side. Not if he wanted to keep his testicles.

"Elizaveta, I'm fine. I wasn't beaten up. I was roller blading in the park and I kept falling. I also crashed into someone." Tino blushed as he thought of Berwald. He really needed to call him. It had been almost a week since they'd last spoke. It wasn't that he didn't want to see him; he did. He was just so busy, and his boss had wanted him to stay longer for some reason. Francis also talked to him for ages after work. It was getting kind of annoying. To be honest, Tino kind of missed Berwald and all his funny social awkwardness. And his dog, let's not forget the dog. Tino smirked. Maybe he would 'bump into' him again. He really wished that the Fates wouldn't take that literally.

Elizaveta frowned. "Did that person get angry? Did they twist your arm? Oh, they are so dead!"

"No, I knew that person. Well, a little. He would never hurt me."

Elizaveta calmed, and she grinned slyly. "He? Have you made a friend, Tino?"

Tino blushed. "No, not like that." He mumbled. Both Elizaveta and Roderick knew that he was gay. It wasn't that he kept it a secret; he just didn't go strutting through the streets dressed in rainbows and grabbing men's crotches. It was Elizaveta who figured it out. She announced to Roderick that he must be gay because he didn't react once when they watched Australia's Next Top Model. Well, that and he actually watched it with her. Also because he told her that he wasn't interested in any women when she tried to play match maker. He thought that was pretty clear. Straight after that she tried to make him cross-dress. He didn't visit their house for a week after that.

Elizaveta raised an eyebrow and grinned. "Right. So, what's his name?"

"Who's name?" Tino asked, playing dumb.

She slapped the back of his head playfully. "This mystery man."

"Wha-? What, since when was there a mystery man!?"

"Since you blushed when I asked who he was! Tell me!"

Roderick grinned. "Trust me, you're not going to get out of this."

Elizaveta nodded. "He's right. He knows from experience that I'm not going to drop this. Now tell me who it is!"

"Ugh! It's no one. He doesn't matter! I haven't even called him."

"You got his number!?" Elizaveta practically squealed.

"Yes, get over it. We're not in high school! We exchanged numbers."

"You exchanged numbers?"

"Yes! Okay?"

"Aw, it looks like Tino has a crush." Roderick teased.

Tino flushed. "Stop it! I don't have a crush on him. Berwald just took me to see a doctor so I could get my arm checked. That's it."

Elizaveta scrunched her nose. "Berwald? That's a funny name."

Tino raised his eyebrows. "And yours is completely common?"

"Point taken. So, when are we going to meet him?"

"Wait, who said you were going to meet him?"

"I did. I need to see if he's good enough for you." Roderick nodded in agreement.

"He has to have a job." He said.

"And is nice to you." Elizveta added.

"And owns a car." Roderick said.

"And treats you right."

Roderick nodded. "Yes, that's a big one too. And make sure he lives in his own house. But not someone who lives on the edge of town in the wilderness. It's dangerous there and he could kidnap and kill you. Then what would we do? And I don't want you with someone who lives in their parent's basement."

"Roderick, you lived in your parent's basement for almost a year."

"That's not important, Eliza! And make sure that he doesn't live in King's Cross. That is the worst neighbourhood."

"Oh, yeah. Do not live there. I forbid you to go there!"

Tino listened, dumbfounded. "But…? You can't meet him if you're going to be like that!"

Eliza clasped her hands together excitedly. "So we can meet him then? Yes! I win!"

"What? But I didn't say… Ugh, fine. I have his number here." Tino pulled out his phone. "I'll call him when I'm on my break and you can hear his voice, okay?"

Eliza frowned at him, thinking. "Fine, I guess that's good enough for now."

"Oh would you look at that?" Roderick suddenly exclaimed.

"What now?" Tino sighed, exasperated.

Roderick grinned. "It looks like it's just time for your break."

Tino frowned at the infuriatingly hard to read clock. "Hang on, my break is not for another two hours."

"No it's not!" Roderick said quickly, leading him over to the piano, Eliza grinning as she followed. "Now why don't you sit down here and ring up your special friend."

Tino glared. "He is not my 'special friend', okay?"

Roderick rolled his eyes. "Sure, sure."

Eliza popped down beside him. "Well? Ring him!"

Tino relented. "Okay, I'll call him." Tino stared ominously at his phone. Now he was actually about to speak to him, what would be his reason? What would he say?

AN: It's still Monday! Usually I post just after 12pm on Sunday, so please forgive me for not posting last night because I was tired and lazy.


	8. Chapter 8

**Afraid of Love**

**Chapter 8**

Berwald wiped sweat from his brow. Despite his strong appearance, reaching up to hammer wood in all day was really starting to strain his back. But today wasn't so bad, unlike other days. A few hours ago he had finally spoken to Tino! Berwald smiled to himself, feeling very much like a giddy kid in high school. Well, that's what he imagined he felt like. Berwald was never a giddy high school student.

Okay, so maybe they didn't _speak. _But they texted! Berwald pulled out his phone to go over the texts for what must have been the hundredth time.

-a few hours ago-

_Tino- Hey, Berwald! What's up? ^_^ _The first text read. Berwald smiled a little when he saw the emoticon. Such a happy face.

_Berwald- Nothing much. _Would his short answer have deterred Tino? Tino hadn't answered for a whole minute! Dammit, he would have to be chattier next time. Maybe he should practise on Omegle?

_Tino- Oh, well I was just saying hi. _Just saying hi? Does that mean that he didn't want to talk to him? Then why would he have texted in the first place?

_Berwald- Hi. _Well, Tino had wanted to say hi. What else was he meant to say?

_Tino- Uh, okay then. Hi. _Wait, what? He was the one who had wanted to say hi in the first place!

_Berwald- ..._

_Tino- uh_

_Berwald- Was there anything else?_

_Tino- No, not resdaoifsfdncoincfuidnvsdnb snjcndso nsad cyh cdisa asw dcw ocwds_

_Berwald- What?_

_Tino- njuioo NECWCIOCD CEDE EEEE E E EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEE_

_Berwald- Uh…_

_Tino- EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEhi I reakkky want 2 meeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEj_

_Berwald- Are you okay? _Berwald was getting worried by now. What if Tino had been mugged?

_Tino- im f1n_

_Berwald- What?_

_Tino- heyy can i meet u?_

_Berwald- If you want to. _Okay, his writing was confusing Berwald, but he wanted to meet him! This was great!

_Tino- YAY! _Well, Tino certainly seemed excited.

_Tino- Do u want 2 go 2 a moviiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiewcskaaaaak_

_Berwald- What?_

_Tino- Hello, I apologise for that interruption. _Okay, that had been a little weird. Tino had already said hi. Or maybe he wanted to say hello? Wait…

_Tino- As I was saying, would you like to see a movie with me, Berwald? _Would that count as a… date?

_Berwald- Sure._

_Tino- Great, I would just like to ask you something first._

_Berwald- Sure_

_Tino- Do you own a car? _Well, that had been sudden.

_Berwald- Yes…_

_Tino- Good. Do you have your own place?_

_Berwald- Yes. Why?_

_Tino- Oh, I'm just making sure that you are fit enough for Tino._

_Berwald- …But you're Tino._

_Tino- Yes, I am! I meant, I'm making sure that you are fit enough for a friend of mine, because_

_Berwald- Who are you?_

_Tino- I'm Tino!_

_Berwald- Liar. Who are you and how did you get Tino's phone?_

_Tino- I'm not lying!_

_Berwald- Don't make me track this phone. _Berwald hadn't been kidding when he'd said that.

_Tino- Dammit. Okay, I'm not Tino. My name is not important, but we're friends of Tino and_

_Berwald- We're?_

_Tino- My wife and I! Let me speak! We're friends of Tino and have stolen his phone. Which was really hard to do, Tino kicks hard! I'm sure I'll have a bruise tomorrow. We just wanted to find out who you were…_

_Berwald- Why?_

_Tino- I'll let Tino have his phone back now._

_Berwald- Wait_

_Tino- Bye!_


	9. Chapter 9

**Afraid of Love**

**Chapter Nine**

"Was that your boyfriend?" Felix asked, still smirking. He was wearing another dress, Berwald remarked. This time it was a pale pink colour. Actually, it was more of a peach colour.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Berwald said carefully. Obviously he wasn't careful enough because Felix snorted and started laughing.

"Yeah right! 'When do you get off work?', 'After you're finished, would you like to come see me?'" Felix placed a hand on his hip. "Yeah, he's totally your boyfriend."

Berwald raised an eyebrow. "How do you know it's a he?"

"Please. How about the name 'Tino'?" Felix smiled and sat on the ground.

"Just how much of our conversation did you hear?"

"Enough. So, who is he? Tell me everything!"

Berwald blushed. "He's no one."

"Liar!" Felix sang. "Come on, tell me!"

Berwald sighed and sat on the grass next to Felix, resigning himself to a long gossip. "Well, his name's Tino. I don't know his last name though."

Felix raised his eyebrows. "Well, that's never a good sign."

"He's Finnish. I met almost two weeks ago, in the shopping centre." Berwald proceeded to tell him about how he had scared Tino, and then how they had later met again in the park. He held out his phone and showed Felix the texts, telling them about their conversation. "He works in that big restaurant. The Castle de Soleil."

Felix gasped. "No way! I was just there earlier!"

"Really? Why?"

Felix huffed and looked away. "I had a fight with Toris this morning. He has been ignoring me for ages! It's not fair. Like, he won't pay attention to my rants, or he'll actually snap at me! Toris doesn't even know what anger is! He can only get frustrated!" Felix sighed and wrapped his arms around his knees. "I just don't get it. Anyway, so I went to that French place. Y'know, to treat myself because Toris was a _complete insensitive jerk!"_

Berwald was at lost. He had no idea how to comfort someone, especially about a relationship.

"So, what does Tino look like? I might've seen him."

Berwald smiled slightly. "Well, he's a little short. He has blonde hair, pale skin, violet eyes and is a _little_ on the curvy side. But I think he's cute. And he has the most adorable accent! He always seems happy, but I can tell there is something else…" Berwald turned to look at Felix, whose face was frozen over and his eyes wide.

"Uh," Felix cleared his throat. "I think I met him."

"What? You did?"

"Uh, yep. He was my waiter." Felix ducked his head. Uh oh, what did he do? "I was really mean to him! I was in such a bad mood, and I was really distracted! Like, I didn't even realise that I had ordered sushi! And how I got that at a French restaurant I will never know…" Felix peeked at Berwald. "I'm sorry."

Berwald's eyes flashed. He felt something different, his temper that he kept buried deep beneath masks and facades. "Okay, but watch what you say to Tino from now on." He raised an eyebrow and felt a jolt of superiority as he saw Felix gulp. Berwald quickly shook his head and muttered an apology. He had to be more careful; he could never go back to how he was…

"Uh, okay. I promise I'll tell him I'm sorry."

"Tell who you're sorry?" A man asked behind them.

Felix glanced over his shoulder at the man before looking away disinterestedly. "Oh, it's you."

Berwald looked confusedly at both of them. Judging by Felix's reaction, this man was Toris. He felt a flicker of worry. Would he be angry that Berwald was spending so much time with Felix? Granted that they had only really spoken twice, but that fact might be overlooked by the fact that they were in a rocky part of their relationship.

Toris looked at Berwald nervously. "Uh, hi, sir." He held out his hand. "I'm Toris, I work on the boat, too."

Berwald shook his hand, trying to control is strength. "Hello," he mumbled, but maybe it came out as a grumble? "I'm Berwald."

Toris seemed to relax, and he smiled. "Oh, so you're Berwald. Yeah, Felix told me about you. Only good things, I swear!" He added quickly, only half joking. Even though Berwald hadn't intentionally done anything to scare Toris, he still intimidated him.

Berwald noticed how tense Toris still was, so he tried to relieve the man. He chuckled. Judging by Toris' flinch, that didn't work. "So, how are you?" Berwald ventured. That sounded like pretty standard thing to say.

Toris blinked. "Uh, I'm fine."

Felix snorted. "Of course, now you're fine. What happened to being all stressed and annoyed, huh? Or is that just to make me piss off!" he snapped.

Toris winced and sat beside Felix, who looked away. Berwald, feeling awkward yet again, decided to fiddle around with his tools and whatnot. "Felix, I didn't mean to upset you."

"I don't care." Felix mumbled, a lump growing in his throat. There was no way he was crying! Secretly, though, Felix loved the attention that he was finally getting from Toris.

Toris wrapped an arm around Felix. When it wasn't shrugged off, he continued. "Felix, I'm sorry."

Felix slowly looked back at Toris, his eyes watering. "_You're_ sorry?"

Toris nodded. "I'm sorry, I should of payed you more attention."

Felix sighed and rested his head on Toris' shoulder. "Okay, I forgive you. Oh, by the way, I spent like fifty dollars at a restaurant today." Well, now seemed as good a time as ever. "I blame the drinks I ordered. But you can't be mad at me now that you just apologised! It was your fault anyway."

Toris decided that it wasn't worth arguing about it. "Okay, it doesn't matter."

"Really!?"

"Yep. So, what were you guys talking about?"

"Uh, I was rude to Berwald's boyfriend. But I didn't know it was his boyfriend!"

"He isn't my boyfriend." Berwald corrected.

"Not yet." Felix countered.

"Where'd this person go?" Toris asked, looking around. "Don't tell me that you made them cry, Felix."

"No! Tino was the waiter who served me at the place where I spent… a lot…" Felix trailed off.

Berwald nodded. "He's coming here after six."

Felix squealed. "This is going to be so much fun! Okay, I have lot's to teach you." Felix stopped and gasped. "Wait!" He turned and jumped onto Toris, forcing him to the ground and burying his face in Toris' chest. "What if he hates me now? No, I've ruined everything! I was looking forward to hanging with Berwald's boyfriend and now he won't like me!"

"He still isn't my boyfriend." Berwald knelt beside Felix. "I'm sure Tino will like you, once he realises that you weren't at your best before. You two would both get along."

"…Really?"

"I'm sure."

"Well that's great!" Felix sprang up from Toris, who was concentrating on breathing. "I just have to say I'm sorry and everything will be fine! Now," Felix looked at Berwald in the eyes, dead serious. "I have to teach you about flirting."

-six-thirty-

Okay, so maybe Tino had been a coward and texted Berwald instead of calling him. It had turned out to be too much temptation for Eliza and she had attacked him for the phone. Literally, she had jumped on top of him and refused to let go of him. He had scratches from her nails to prove it! And then Roderick had turned against him! That traitor! Tino was mortified when he read over the texts to see that they had made it look like he had asked him out. And in the end Tino still had to ring Berwald. Maybe that had been Eliza's plan all along…?

But there was something he was forgetting. Berwald had agreed to 'Tino' asking him out. What was that supposed to mean? Did Berwald realise how Eliza and Roderick had meant it? Or had he thought it was just a normal thing?

Tino shook his head. Of course he didn't think of it as anything else. And Tino didn't want anything other than a friend. But he could still remember Berwald telling him he loved him… He sighed. That had to have been a mistake. Or a joke. Heck, Tino may have even dreamed it up! Besides, who would want Tino? He was stupid, he was pathetic, he was tainted…

'Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.' Tino thought as he saw Berwald up ahead. And he could see two others with him! Sure, Tino was a friendly person, but that didn't mean he wanted to meet several other people all at once!

'Too late now.' Tino thought as Berwald looked up and waved. He forced a smile onto his face and hurried over to them, looking ever the happy, bubbly person. "Hey Berwald!"

"Hello, how's your elbow?"

Tino shrugged. "It's fine. It'll be back to normal soon enough." He turned to the others. "Hi, I'm Tino."

A man with long brown hair held his hand. "Hi, I'm Toris. It's nice to meet you, Tino."

Tino stared at him with a tight smile. Did he really have to shake his hand? He knew it was polite, but still… He didn't want to touch someone, especially someone that he had just met. Toris, who was feeling a little awkward, dropped his hand and gestured to Felix, who was currently hiding behind him.

"This is Felix, by the way. He's a little shy around strangers."

Tino felt a little relief at that. At least he wasn't the only one who had that problem. He tried to peer around Toris to see Felix, but the man wasn't letting him. Finally, Felix peeped his head out and looked at Tino fearfully.

Tino gasped. "You're the guy from the restaurant today!"

"He remembers!" Felix crowed. He shoved Toris towards Tino. "It was all his fault! All of it! He made me angry this morning so I was like a total jerk to everyone! Including you!" Felix grabbed Toris and hid back behind him. "I'm sorry…"

Tino bit his lip, feeling a little bad for Felix. Everyone said things they didn't mean when they were in a bad mood, Tino especially. He guessed he could forgive him. Besides, Felix seemed a little delicate. Tino would have to be a little careful right now if they were going to be friends.

Tino walked around to Felix. "Hey," he said softly. "It's okay, I don't blame you."

Felix's eyes peered out from his blanket of hair. "Really?"

Tino smiled. "Yeah, it's fine."

Felix beamed and grabbed Tino, enveloping him in a hug. "Yay! This is great! We are going to be such good friends. What do you like? Do you like clothes? Ooh! I know the best outfit for you!"

Tino was rigid. 'It's okay,' he told himself. 'Just calm down, he'll let go soon…. He's not letting go! He's not letting go!" Tino squirmed a little. "Uh, Felix? I would really appreciate you letting go. Yeah, thanks." He said, stepping a few steps back. He felt a shudder run through him. Great first impression.

Felix looked at him confusedly, but he didn't comment on it, thankfully. "Oh by the way, Toris is my boyfriend. So I just want you to know that we are totally cool with you being gay and all."

Tino raised his eyebrows. "Well, that's nice."

Felix blushed. "I mean, if you are gay! It's fine if you're not, I was just saying. And someone might be crushed if you were straight, but that doesn't matter." Felix cleared his throat and looked at the other two who were coincidentally looking away from him.

Tino cleared his throat. "Well, thank you, but I really don't think that my, uh, _sexual_ _preference_ is really important."

Felix nodded. "Yeah, okay." He grabbed Tino's wrist, ignoring his flinch. "Hey, why don't we go over there and talk." He said quickly, dragging Tino over to a bench right on the edge of the Harbour.

Berwald felt a little jealous that Felix got to spend more time with Tino than himself. But that feeling quickly left him as he heard Tino laughing and growing more comfortable around them.

Toris laughed. "It's nice to see him warm up to a stranger so quickly." Berwald nodded, not realising that they were both thinking of different people. Toris snorted. "I hope that Felix doesn't scare him too much." He lowered his voice. "We both noticed how much he flinches whenever someone touches him, right?"

Berwald nodded. "He does that a lot. He virtually attacked me when I picked him up. He said he'd prefer pain over contact…"

"Wait, what? When did you pick him up?"

Berwald blushed before catching Toris up. Toris did his best to help Berwald by correcting his social mistakes. He did his best to help him understand boundaries, but Toris wasn't sure that Berwald got it. He still thought that picking up a stranger was fine. Toris tried to tell him that the only time he should pick a stranger up was if they were injured, but Berwald was still disagreeing with him. They'd get back to that later.

Suddenly there was a shout behind them. "Felix!" Tino cried out as he struggled to hold onto him, desperately ignoring his haphephobia*. Felix was about to fall into the Harbour and was desperately clinging onto Tino for support.

But Tino wasn't enough and they both tumbled into the dark water.

**AN: Heyo, my creatures! HAHAHA CLIFFIE! Aren't you guys happy? I updated like two days earlier! WOOOOH IT SHALL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN! **

**Just so you know, haphephobia is the fear of being touched, especially in an intimate of sexual manner. Some react to being touched (eg, hugging) by freezing up, crying or something else that I have forgotten. But it gets better with people they're more used to.**

**Later creatures. Please review! With rainbows! And chocolate! And more reviews! And Berwald hugs…. **


	10. Chapter 10

**Afraid of Love**

**Chapter Nine**

Felix crashed back up to the surface, sputtering. He splashed around and hacked up water before he was dunked back under for a few seconds. "Felix!" Toris yelled, running to the edge. He lay down onto his stomach and held out his arms. Felix latched onto him and crawled out miserably.

Felix flopped onto the wood. He tried to catch his breath, but it didn't last long before he spewed up as much water as he could. Toris combed Felix's wet hair back. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Felix pointed back to the water. "T-Tino… Tino!"

Toris' head whipped up, only to see Berwald kick off his shoes and dive into the water. Something was wrong. Why wasn't Tino resurfacing?

**Tino's P.O.V**

I thrashed about wildly. It was so dark! I tried to make out any light; anything that would tell me where the surface was. But I couldn't see anything, not the sun, not me, not anything. All there was to see was dark, green, murky water. I kicked and twisted. I cursed my stupid pride. If I had learned I would never be drowning!

I opened my mouth to scream as I felt something brush past my leg. Wasn't Australia famous for sharks!? But that was a big mistake as I felt dirty water rush into my mouth. Closing it was useless now, but I still did. **(AN: Drowning in Sydney Harbour is very very real. You do not want to swim in there, particularly at night. It's filthy and it's full of sharks. Particularly bull sharks. But don't worry; I don't think there has been a shark killing there in 50 years… yet. But there have been plenty of drowning. Welcome to Australia, we will refuse to pay for you funeral. Oh, I also dare you to type up Sydney Harbour Shark in Images and Sydney Harbour Drowning… not in images. Those poor sharks. They were calmly eating their human casserole when some asshole comes up and starts taking pictures! God, there is no privacy nowadays!)**

'It's seaweed.' I thought dully as I realised that whatever had wrapped itself around my leg was just hanging, not moving at all. 'I'm at the bottom. Or it could be a squid. Either way I'm still fucked.'

I felt hazy, and my limbs slowly stopped moving. I was so tired, and it was so cold. Who cares, anyway? It might be nice to just forget it forever…

Wait, what the hell is that? No! No! No no no no no! I did not sign up for this! I wanted a nice, peaceful drowning, not being ripped apart by a giant shark! There was something darker than the water around me, and guess where it was heading. Yep, right towards me. I think it's above me, maybe. I tried to swim away, but my arms were so heavy.

I tried to ignore the burning in my lungs, but it was too much. I opened my mouth and closed my eyes. Thankfully, unconsciousness took me before I felt something latch onto me and pull me through the darkness…

I felt a pounding in my chest. On my chest? I wasn't sure. My head killed, my throat was sore and my eyes were burning through closed lids. And it was so hard to breathe. There was something on my lips, forcing air into my mouth… Wait, something was on my lips!?

I quickly shoved the thing away from me and tried to sit up. That was a big mistake. I tried in vain to hold back my tears when I vomited the entire contents of my stomach onto the wooden walk way beneath me. Ew. It wasn't my fault that I cry whenever I vomit!

'God, it's cold.' I thought as I lay there shivering. No sooner than I had thought that, two strong arms wrapped themselves around me. Someone's head buried itself on my good shoulder. They stayed there, as if they didn't realise how panicky I was becoming.

Here I was, sitting on the hard ground, soaked and traumatised with someone holding me. I shuddered and squirmed but they wouldn't let go. I sobbed as I felt flashbacks force their way through me.

_Someone much bigger walking towards me. I'm scared…_

Oh, God, why won't they let go?

_They run their hand through my hair, and smile._

Please, it's hurting me!

_Their hand snakes around to the back of my head. I'm stuck now, and they won't let go._

Let go! Please, please let go.

_They like me. I don't like them, not anymore._

"Oh, Tino…"

_"Oh, my little Tino…" they say with a predatory smile._

I'm going to throw up again.

_They bend over and stroke my face. I shudder, but they don't notice. Please, someone…_

Please! Someone…

_Help me…_

Help me…

"Tino? Tino. Tino! Are you okay?" The person holding me asks.

I looked up finally, and strangely enough I felt relieved. It was Berwald. Berwald, who's hair and clothes where soaked and his glasses carelessly thrown on. Not fully realising what I was doing, I reached out cupped the side of his face.

"Y-you saved me?"

And here is the strangest thing of all. Berwald _smiled_. He held me even tighter; maybe he was hugging me? I was so confused, why wasn't this bothering me anymore? Now that I knew it was Berwald, I wasn't afraid. He was holding me and I wasn't crying. I was freezing up, sure, but maybe that was just the cold.

"Oh, Tino, I was so scared. You almost died." Berwald looked back up and cupped my face with both of his hands. Okay, now this was getting a little uncomfortable. "Tino, never, ever do that again."

I nodded. Oh, sure, sure, like I had totally done that on purpose. Yep, I get it, no drowning myself. Point taken. Now could you please let go of me? I might have found it okay before, but Berwald's time limit was up and it was time to find another source of comfort that he can hug. Maybe he could use a teddy bear? I pulled out of his grip and struggled to my feet, though admittedly I had to lean on Berwald's shoulders to do that.

I looked down at my wet clothes in disgust. "Great," I muttered. "Now I'll catch pneumonia." I groaned as I felt a dizzy spell and swayed. Berwald quickly stood up and put a hand on my shoulder to steady ne, which I shrugged off.

"We need to take you to the hospital."

"Me too!' Felix added from where he still sat on the ground. "I'm feeling really shitty, too. Like, I didn't almost drown, but still. I'm soaked."

I rolled my eyes before shaking my head to Berwald. "No, I'm okay. I'm just cold and wet and my sling is gone." I told him, clutching my left arm to my chest.

"Tino, you're not okay. You're going to the hospital, even if it means that I have to pin you down until the paramedics arrive."

Toris nodded. "Yeah, I've already called them."

I scowled at Berwald, but he was undeterred. "Fine," I huffed. "I'll go to the stupid hospital." Grumbling to myself, I sat next to Felix on the planks and pulled out my phone. "Great, my phone is dead." I tried to rub away some water with my… wet sleeve. No wonder it wasn't working.

"It's better your phone than you." Berwald said quietly. I didn't know exactly how to respond to that. I resolved to stare at my hands until the ambulance came. My teeth chattered and I tried to stop shaking. 'Just think of the desert. A nice, warm desert. Full of volcanoes and suns and heaters and anything else that emits heat.'

"Huh?" I looked up, confused as Berwald draped his jacket over me. He must have taken it off sometime during the afternoon. "Oh, thank you." I said as I snuggled into the huge jacket. It was hell of a lot better than trying to will myself warm.

"Oh thank God!" Felix exclaimed as he saw the blue and red lights of the ambulance. I could hear the tell-tale siren as it got closer. "It's about time. Jeez, what if someone was dying here?"

The hospital kept Tino under surveillance for three days. They had assured Tino (and Berwald) that nothing was dangerously wrong pretty much as soon as he arrived at the hospital, but they had wanted to keep Tino there because of mild pneumonia. Felix, the lucky bastard, had gotten let out almost immediately. The only thing that was wrong with him was the danger of getting a cold from his wet clothes.

Berwald had visited Tino every day. He had made sure that he didn't overstay, otherwise he might creep Tino out. That didn't stop him from bringing flowers, a balloon and a Get Well Card. Of course, he had made a weird picture when he sat in the waiting room for hours with those things. And let me tell you, Australia's health system is not good. Berwald had to sit there for five hours. Five hours! And apparently, that was normal. He had to sit for five hours among screaming kids, a bleeding man, an obnoxious kid talking on a mobile, a coughing man and several people who were speaking very angrily in another language. It wasn't fun. But still, it was worth it if he got to see Tino, even if it was only for a couple of minutes.

Currently Berwald was driving Tino home. For some reason, Tino's roommate (whose name Berwald had yet to learn) had refused to pick up Tino and take him home. He said that he wouldn't let Tino in his car even if Tino had two broken legs, was blind and a fire was approaching. Not even then.

Berwald looked at Tino out of the corner of his eye. The blonde hadn't anything the entire drive. Well, to be fair Berwald hadn't said anything either, but at least he didn't look like he was sulking. On the other hand, Tino did look very cute when he was pouting. Berwald sighed and prepared himself for the conversation that he was about to begin.

"Tino, is it okay if I ask you something?"

"Wasn't that a question?" Tino griped. He sighed. "I'm sorry, go ahead."

Oh, thank you for that, Tino. Now Berwald was definably feeling confident and unthreatened. Not. "Both you and Felix fell into the water, but Felix floated straight to the surface. Why did you sink?"

Tino glared at him, but it wasn't as strong as it could have been. "And why is that important?" he snapped, desperately trying to put off Berwald. He couldn't tell him- it was so embarrassing!

"I'd like to know why you can't swim in case you fall in again. Is it a physical problem, like a breathing problem, or do you just need to learn?"

Tino looked at him shocked. "How did you...? Never mind." Why was he even asking? It was so obvious. He looked at his knees, blushing. "I could swim, if I learned, but I never did."

Berwald nodded to himself. That was okay; he would pay for Tino's swimming lessons. Or maybe he would just teach Tino himself? Berwald wasn't a bad swimmer. But he needed to know why, still. Was Tino too conscious of his body? But h shouldn't be too up-front about it. He should start with a joke! "If you didn't know how to swim, then why'd you move to an island? Australia of all places, they even have deadly butterflies here."

Tino rounded on him. "You think it's funny?" Oh no. "You think it's funny that a grown man can't swim, or can't even ride a bike? It's not my fault!" But he hadn't meant it like that… "And as for me moving to Australia, it's none of your business! So you can just shut up!"

Berwald crouched as much as he could while he was driving. That was a big, big mistake. No more jokes for now. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to offend you. But still, why can't you swim? I promise that I won't judge you."

Tino looked at him suspiciously. Maybe he had jumped to conclusions when he had accused Berwald of laughing at him. Berwald wasn't like that. Tino wasn't sure if he even had a mean bone in his body. Oh great, now he felt guilty! "Alright, it's no big deal, really. My mum just never taught me how to swim, and there were a few… accidents," Tino said carefully. "That involved water. So I never tried to learn and as I got older it just got too embarrassing." Tino scratched the back of his head and looked away.

Berwald did his best try at a smile. "You don't need to be embarrassed. Uh, if you want, I can teach you. There's a pool at my place." Berwald offered, faintly blushing.

"Huh? You would really teach me?" Tino asked, shocked.

Berwald nodded. "Of course. You need to learn."

Tino frowned. "I don't know…"

Berwald shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. "You can if you want, it's up to you." In actual fact, Berwald was desperately hoping that Tino would agree. He really wanted to spend more time with the younger blonde. And another thing he was curious about was the accidents Tino had said he had been in that involved water. What was that about? Despite his curiosity though, Berwald wasn't foolish enough to push his luck by asking.

Tino smiled. "Thank you. You're right, it is about time that I learn how to swim."

Berwald nodded, satisfied. They didn't speak for the rest of the trip. Well not until they were about five minutes away from Tino's apartment when Berwald remembered something.

"Tino, who is Mathew?"

"Huh? How do you know Mathew?" Tino asked, confused. When had he talked about Mathew?

"You mentioned him when you called me. You said that he was watching you."

"What?" Okay, now that was weird. Tino blinked and laughed as he remembered what Berwald had misunderstood. "Oh, no it's okay. Mattie is a really good friend of mine. We're really close, especially since…" Tino cleared his throat. "He's the restaurants financial adviser, and my boss' brother. He's also like his little assistant. Yeah, he never misses anything because he's always watching." Tino said in a dramatic voice. "That's just because no one really notices him. I swear he has super powers, like The Invisible Woman! Have you seen that movie? It's so cool! You know the Fantastic Four, right?"

Berwald spent the rest of the trip listening to Tino prattle on about The Fantastic Four. Not that he minded, though. Tino's face was always so animated when he rambled. It was nice to see Tino looking so happy.

Berwald dropped Tino off in front of a unit of buildings. He tried to ignore the bit of disappointment he felt when he wasn't invited in. Oh well, there was plenty of time. Maybe he should drop by Tino's work sometime?

**AN- Sorry, nothing much happens in this chapter. And just so you can sleep well when you holiday in Australia, we really do have deadly butterflies. I didn't even know at first! I just threw it in for a joke! Then I looked it up, and it turned out to be true…**


	11. Chapter 11

**Afraid of Love**

**Chapter 11**

**Tino's P.O.V**

I groaned as I felt someone shaking my shoulder. I swatted at them with my hand. "Go away… m'busy."

"Obviously. Now get up! There's something important."

"Don't care."

"C'mon!"

"Lemme sleep." I slurred, trying to roll over.

The person sighed. "I'll make breakfast if you get up."

"Ooh! Yes, I'm getting up. I'm up, I'm up."

I stretched and half glared at Eduard through bleary eyes. "What's so important?"

Eduard grinned and held out a bunch of roses held together by gift paper. "Look at what I found outside next to our mail box."

I looked confusedly at the flowers. "Someone sent you flowers? Wow, I guess that assistant really does like you. A lot."

"What!?" Eduard exclaimed, looking at the flowers as if they had just flirted with his mother.

"Not so loud, it's too early…" I muttered.

"They're not for me!"

"Are you sure? Because that assistant really looks up to you…"

"I'm sure." Eduard snapped as he dumped the flowers on my lap. "Have a look at the card."

Half smirking, I dug around in the bouquet until I found a small card hidden inside it. Written on it in fancy print was 'My dear little Tino, always know that you are special. Love, your secret admirer.' What? I had a secret admirer? Somehow, that didn't make me feel very special. In fact, that was a little creepy. This 'secret admirer', who apparently had… feelings towards me, knew my name and address.

It had to be someone I knew. I mentally ran off possible people in my head; not many sprung to mind. But wait, there was someone.

"What about Berwald?" I asked myself.

"Berwald?" Eduard queried. "That guy that saved you from drowning."

"Oh, uh, yeah, that's Berwald."

Eduard grinned slyly. "Falling in love with his damsel in distress. How cliché."

"What!? What do you mean, 'falling in love'? He doesn't feel like that." I blushed furiously. "And I wasn't a damsel in distress."

Eduard rolled his eyes. "Right, anyway, enough about your knight in shining armour. Don't you have to go to work?"

"I'll stick some shining armour up your ars- Oh my God! You're right! I forgot!" I rushed to my wardrobe and fell over in the process. I barely even registered that as I thought of the flowers. Had Berwald really sent those? I sighed. There was no use worrying about it unless I knew for certain that it was Berwald who had sent me those flowers.

"Well, I'm leaving." Eduard turned towards the door. I barely noticed him as I rushed frantically around the room. I glanced at the newspaper that that been dumped on the table. Something about a comic convention coming soon. "Those students better have submitted that damn assignment… I'll be ranting on my blog about this." He muttered.

I winced. I hope that the students had, Eduard got inventive with his punishments. Detention had never been the same.

"And my roommate found the roses outside the apartment when he was about to leave. I don't know who they're from. It just said 'from your secret admirer'. I have a secret admirer?" Tino shook his head, snorting.

"It appears so." Roderick answered as he studied the piano out of the corner of his eye, fingers twitching.

"Aw, this is great!" Eliza squealed. "I wonder who it is. Who have you been flirting with lately?"

"What? I don't flirt!" Tino exclaimed.

Eliza rolled her eyes. "Fine, then. Who has been flirting with you?"

Tino blushed. "No one."

"But it has to be someone!" Eliza gasped and grinned at him.

"What is it?" Roderick asked, also grinning as he had an idea of what his wife was thinking.

"Yeah, what?" Tino asked cautiously. He didn't like that look in Eliza's eyes.

"What about Berwald?"

Tino groaned, ignoring the fact that he had also thought of Berwald. "It's not him!"

"But how do you know?"

"I don't! But it can't be him! He doesn't even like me like that."

"Are you sure?"

Tino paused. "Yes, I'm sure."

"You hesitated!" Eliza declared. She started running away from him, laughing hysterically. "I knew it!"

"Uh, where is she going?" Tino asked no one in particular.

"To the bathroom. She probably needs to piss if she's laughing so much."

Tino blinked. "Did you just say 'piss', Roderick? I have never heard you say even that!"

Roderick stood up. "You will never speak of that again. It was a slip of the tongue." He sniffed. "Probably because I've been around too many commoners. Now, I'm going to practise on that beautiful piano over there."

Tino raised an eyebrow. "Commoner's?"

The Stalker behind the Pot Plant's P.O.V

Who the Hell is Berwald!? That wasn't meant to happen! Francis huffed. Dammit! He hadn't expected that to backfire. He was confused. How could it have gone wrong? He had specifically told Mathew to leave a message from a secret admirer in French. That should have made it pretty damn clear who the flowers were from. But somehow, it had been messed up. What, did this stupid Berwald speak French too!?

And who was Berwald, anyway? He knew the names of all his employees, the women especially, and Berwald was not on of them. Whoever he was, it seemed that Berwald was close to Tino. Oh, he better not be 'with' Tino! Francis fumed silently. What else could he do?

"Hello Francis, are we spying on Tino again?" Mathew asked as he freaking appeared out of nowhere next to Francis.

"Wha-!? Oh, ahem, no we are not spying. We are eavesdropping. But you know what? You're not going to be eavesdropping for long…" Francis said with a deadly tone.

"H-huh? Wh-what are you talking a-"

"Did you write it in French?"

"…Pardon?"

Francis gritted his teeth. "I said, did you write the message in French?"

Mathew's eye's widened. He gulped, trying to swallow his fear. It wasn't working. "Uh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…" he trailed off and ducked his head, effectively hiding his face behind his bangs.

"Mathieu, you idiot." Francis began slowly, balling his hands into fists. "I gave you a simple instruction! How could you mess that up!?"

Mathew bit his lip. He tried to hide the lone tear that escaped his eye. "I'm sorry."

"Of course you're sorry." Francis snapped and reached up to pinch his brow. Mathew flinched back. Francis felt horrified as he realised how his brother felt.

"No, no it's okay." He scrambled to apologise. "Mattie, Mattie please look at me. It's okay, it was just a little mistake. No problem."

Mathew slowly looked back up at him. "…Really? You're not mad at me?"

Francis shook his head and smiled at his little brother. He had to remember how sensitive Mathew was! Besides, Francis was the only one Mathew had. "I wasn't mad. I was just a little frustrated."

Without warning, Mathew launched himself into Francis' arms. "Oh thank God, I couldn't stand it if you hated me."

"I could never hate my brother. Now, why don't we go back to spying- uh, I mean eavesdropping." Francis corrected, winking and causing Mathew to laugh.

"Hey Berwald!" Tino's cheerful voice cut through their conversation like glass.

"Shh! Listen!" Francis quickly let go of a disgruntled Mathew and peered through the leaves. Berwald was here. His keen eyes searched for the stranger and almost bugged out of his head when he saw who Tino was speaking too.

That guy was huge. Seriously, why would Tino like a guy like that!? Francis craned his neck to see the guys face. It looked like he was wearing glasses. 'Pfft, he's nothing but a four-eyed, giant-sized, no-talent- oh shit he's looking at me!'

Francis ducked down as much as he could in the cramped space.

"What's wrong?" Mathew asked who hadn't seen anything.

"I think he saw me." Francis hissed. "His face is terrifying. Don't look."

"What!? He saw you!"

"Yes! Now be quiet."

Mathew scowled but did as he was told, trying to ease out the cramp in his leg.

**The P.O.V of… no one. Or everyone. I'm not sure. 3rd person?…. Cheese.**

"Hey Berwald!" Tino beamed and ran over to the door. "You should have said you were coming here."

Berwald shrugged. "I can leave if you don't want me here."

Tino laughed. "No, I'm glad you're here! Come on, sit over here at the corner table."

France cursed as Tino led Berwald over to the table. That table was way too close to them for his liking. The plant was practically next to them! They were only hidden because of the leaves and the fact that they were cramped between the wall and the pot. Although, the view of Tino as he bent to pull out a chair for the giant really wasn't bad.

"So, Berwald, what can I get you?" Tino asked, his pen at the ready.

"Huh? Oh, you don't have to get me anything." Berwald mumbled.

Tino smiled and leaned closer. "I have to or you can't really sit here." He said, winking.

"Damn straight." Francis thought, glaring at Mathew as he giggled.

"Oh, then I'll just have some water then."

"Beer it is." Tino announced, winking again and hurrying off to the kitchen.

Berwald blushed and contented himself with playing with the table cloth. Damn, why did Tino keep winking at him!? It was incredibly distracting! But as it turns out, someone else would prove to be much more distracting.

"You!" A woman shouted only one foot away from him.

Berwald blinked, as this was the biggest way his face could convey shock, or any other emotion really. "Yes?"

"What do you mean, 'yes'? Do you have an attitude problem? What's with you!?" She yelled angrily.

'This woman would get along well with Felix.' Berwald thought. "I'm sorry."

"Good! Now," The woman, who clearly was even more worse at social interaction, sat across from him as if she'd known him all his life. She folded her hands together and frowned at him. Berwald straightened in his seat. This woman was starting to intimidate him, and now he felt like he was in an interview. No, actually, it was more of an interrogation.

"Your name is Berwald, correct?" She continued when he nodded. "And you are Tino's boyfriend, yes?"

Berwald's eyes widened and he shook his head. But inside, he was cheering! Had Tino introduced him as his boyfriend? Or had he just implied it? Hang on, who was this woman?

"Who are you?"

The woman blinked. "Oh, sorry I forgot. My name's Elizaveta, I'm Tino's friend." Ah, so this was the woman who had tackled Tino and wrote strangely. "Anyway, why aren't you Tino's boyfriend?"

Berwald gulped. "Well, I'm just not. I-"

"Well, if you want to be his boyfriend you have to know a few things. One; Tino doesn't like contact. Two; if you ever hurt him, I'll rip your balls off and hit your bloody mess with a frying pan. Got it?" Berwald nodded quickly. Should he write these down? "Three; you better be with Tino because you love him, not just for sex. Or I'll kill you."

Berwald nodded seriously. "I would not be with him for any other reason." Berwald's eyes widened and he blushed. "Uh, that is, if I ever were with him. I'm not saying that I don't, it's just…um."

Eliza smiled. "Aw, I think you two would be cute together."

"Who would be cute togeth- oh my God!" Roderick shouted when Berwald looked up at him. "Don't scare me like that! Now, who are you?"

Eliza beamed and pointed at him proudly, as if he were some prize. "He's Berwald!"

Roderick's eyebrows shot up, before he shared a sly look with Eliza. "Oh, so you're Berwald. Yes, Tino has told us a lot about you."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, well, first I'm sorry about those texts the other day." Roderick casually stole a chair from a busy table, somehow, and sat down next to his wife. He gave her a sly grin before continuing. "Tino has told as that you're nice, and about how you would never hurt him."

Eliza grinned as she noticed the big man blushed. She had just got Roderick's idea. They weren't lying, they were just taking Tino's words out of context. "He also said that you were really tall."

Berwald blushed even harder. Had Tino really said all of those things?

Roderick nodded. "Yes, he also-"

"And that you exchanged numbers!" Eliza quickly butted in. "Sorry, I just wanted to add that."

Roderick rolled his eyes. "Well, obviously, we did steal Tino's phone and text him!"

Eliza raised her eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

Roderick's eyes widened. "I'm sorry. I was wrong."

Eliza nodded. "Exactly, and doesn't someone have a job to do?"

Roderick froze. He turned back to Berwald. "He also said that you saved him from drowning in the Harbour. Thank you, so much."

Berwald nodded. "Of course I would have helped." He glanced around guiltily, checking for Tino. "Do you know why Tino never learned how to swim?"

Eliza shrugged. "We don't know. He never told us."

Berwald sighed. So it was really that much of a secret, huh? Tino hadn't even told them. But maybe he had told his roommate? He would just have to find a way to meet him. But until then, he could wait.

"Oh no." Berwald's head whipped up when he heard Tino's groan. Had he heard their conversation?

"What have you two been doing to him?" Tino shook his head and smiled as he placed Berwald's drink on the table. "I'm sorry if they've been bothering you, Berwald."

Berwald shook his head, a little relieved that Tino didn't seem to have heard. "No, we're okay."

Eliza nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, we're totally fine."

Tino raised an eyebrow. "Right," he said doubtfully. "Hey Berwald, I have a better idea. Why don't you come sit at one of the tables outside, huh? It's much less crowded." He said the last part with a glare towards Roderick, who grinned smarmily and Eliza who smiled innocently.

Berwald nodded. If anything, it would give them more privacy. "Okay." He said, grabbing his drink. "It was nice to meet both of you." He said to the couple before following Tino out.

"Dammit! They're no places outside to hide in!" Francis cursed.

"Well, at least we'll be able to stand up now." Mathew said optimistically.

Francis shook his head. "No we can't. Those too are still there." He nodded towards Roderick and Eliza.

Mathew smirked. "Maybe you can't, but I can. Just the advantages of being invisible." And with that, Mathew stood up and walked straight past Roderick and Elizaveta. They didn't even notice him! And just to rub it in Francis' face, he even dragged his hand along their table.

"I'm sorry about Roderick and Eliza. I hope they weren't too hard on you." Tino said with an embarrassed smile.

Berwald remembered Eliza's threat. "No, they were fine."

"Uh, sure." Tino fidgeted with the end of his sleeve. "So I've been meaning to thank you. For saving me, that is."

"Oh, you don't need to thank me."

"Yes I do! Just, be quiet." Tino sighed. "This is getting ridiculous. I'm sick of falling over and being rescued by you. Why can't I be the rescuer for once?" Tino blinked and realised what he had said. "Not that I want you to be in trouble! I just don't want to be in need of help all the time. It's really degrading!"

Berwald nodded. "Maybe you'd like to go somewhere?"

"What?" Tino asked, surprised. Had Berwald just asked him out on a…. date?

"Do you want to go somewhere?" Berwald mumbled. This was humiliating. He would say no! Berwald knew it. "With me. To a place or something…"

Tino smiled. "Sure, that would be fun." Tino wasn't lying; it would be fun. But had Berwald really meant a date. If so, did Tino really want to do that? Despite all the times that the man had helped him, Tino's old paranoia was flaring up again. He was agreeing to go to a place of another's choice, and that person could easily overpower him, all alone. Somehow that thought made him a little queasy. If he was going somewhere with Berwald, he wasn't going alone. "Hey, why don't the others come too?" Okay, he was going to have to appear really happy to sell this. He felt a twinge of guilt about manipulating Berwald like this, but still, safety first.

First, smile like crazy. "Yeah! Everyone could come with us!" Tino beamed at Berwald. "Roderick and Eliza, and Toris and Felix! And you could meet Eduard!"

Second, ad lib. "Oh my God, I'm so excited! It's going to be so much fun! Don't you think, Berwald? I think so! Ooh, I could see your dog again! Oh, she is so cute! Have you thought of a name yet?" Tino gasped. "We go to the shops in the CBD!** (AN: central business district, the city.) **They have such good cafés there! Oh we could go to IMAX! I know a movie that's showing now. It looks so awesome."

And now for the shameless pleading. "Oh, please Berwald! Can we go? Please? Please? Please? Please? Please? It'll be fun!" I sang.

Berwald looked baffled. "Uh, sure, I would like to meet your roommate."

"Yes!" I exclaimed, jumping for effect. "Thank you!" I smirked inwardly. Don't I seem like the typical hyper airhead? Ha ha, no one's going to be taking advantage of me. And believe me, they've tried. I'm not an idiot. I'm a little ashamed to say, but I use that tactic to get my way more than often. It's not like people would want to ever go somewhere with me if they see how cynical I am about it.

"So, when do you want to go? I'm free this weekend." I asked, putting as much excitement as I could into that question. Geez, I think I'm starting to get a headache.

"Uh, I won't be working on Saturday."

"Perfect! I'll go and tell Roderick and Eliza."

"Uh, right. I'll tell Felix and Toris tomorrow."

"Okay, oh, I'd better be working, too." I smiled abashedly. "See you later, Berwald!"

"Yeah, bye."

**Berwald's P.O.V**

What the Hell was that? Was it just him, or was Tino way too excited when he had asked if he'd like to go somewhere? Not only that. But he had quickly planned the place, time and had assured that they wouldn't be alone. Also, Tino had made it so that they were in a public place. It was if he was planning an illegal trade! Berwald wasn't stupid, he could see through charades, and Tino seemed to be constantly performing one. Why would he do that? Didn't he trust Berwald? He had to find out.


	12. Chapter 12

**Afraid of Love**

**Chapter 12**

**AN- Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey. Uh, look, I need to warn you guys. I get angry a lot in this chapter. I had been writing this one chapter for a month! A MONTH! It was driving me crazy! So, I know it will seem like I don't care about this story, but that's not the case! I just found it soooooooo hard to write- y'know what, just go ahead and read and laugh at my pain, you vultures!**

**Tino's P.O.V**

I hate trains. And I hate buses. In fact, I hate pretty much any kind of public transportation. But since the Fates like spitting in my face to start their day, I had to take both a bus and a train to get to the city.

Our apartment was in the suburbs. The Castle de Soleil is in between our apartment and the city. So it would take an hour to walk from our apartment to the outskirts of the city, and over my dead body would I ever do that. The shopping district was in the middle! That was way too far and I couldn't afford to be late. It didn't look like Eduard was going to let me in his car, even though we would have been coming from the same place to the same place at thesame time! So, I had to take a bus, to a train station, to the city. Trust me, it was disgusting.

The train had been covered in graffiti and was packed to the roof. It was almost impossible not to touch someone on the train. Almost. I managed to remain sanitary by squeezing myself between the seats at the back and the wall. Yeah, it was a long trip. And awkward, the old ladies sitting in the seats kept staring at me.

It wasn't just the train that was bad. The bus was terrible too. It hadn't been as cramped as the train, but it also had graffiti on it and there was gumeverywhere. The bus driver looked like one of the people I swear I saw on Border Patrol and there was one old lady that had kept looking at me. Jeez, what had been with all the old ladies today?

But everything was okay now. I could see everyone except Felix up ahead sitting at a small café. "Hey guys!" I called cheerfully, waving to them. Berwald looked up and his frown relaxed a little, sending a jolt through my stomach. I smiled back nervously. Wait, why was I nervous? Everything was fine. I had all my friends here, no one was touching me. What was wrong? I saw Berwald glance up at me and look shyly away, and then I realised. It was Berwald. He was the one making the butterflies swirl in my stomach. But I don't think that was necessarily a bad thing.

"It's about time, Tino. You're the last one here." Eduard reprimanded.

I scoffed. "Well, maybe I wouldn't be so late if someone's heart of stone would let me get in their car!" Eduard rolled his eyes. "Besides, how am I the last one? What about Felix?"

"Oh, he's here." Toris said. "He's in the bathroom. He said something about fixing his hair."

"Step back, people! I'm here! And my hair has been totally sexyfied." Felix flounced up to Tino. Tino was partly relieved to see that he wasn't wearing a dress this time. Partly. Instead, he was wear an open leather jacket, a white t-shirt and very tight black leather pants. In what decade was that considered fashionable!? Or better yet, on what planet?

"Hi Felix."

"Tino!" Felix stepped back and analysed my outfit with a critical eye. "We really need to get you more clothes."

"Yes!" Eliza cheered. She wrapped an arm around Felix. "Finally, someone who understands. Now, I think Tino would look good in blue, what do you think?"

Felix gasped. "Oh my God, that would be perfect!"

Berwald shook his head. "Leave him alone. He's b'utiful."

"Huh?" I said with an incredible amount of intelligence. Berwald kept quiet. I looked at him curiously. Had Berwald just called me beautiful? Of course, in a totally friendly way. Right?

Toris, who seemed to feel awkward easily, quickly filled the silence. "Well, now that we're all here, why don't we get going?"

I nodded. Anything to get rid of the awkwardness.

Our first few stops were at these real fancy clothing shops. Obviously, that was for Felix. Not that that stopped Elizaveta from eagerly joining her new friend as they both tried to force Tino to play dress up. Let's just say that Berwald became a human shield more than once. Toris hadn't been too happy when he had seen the receipt, but it wasn't like Felix had been listening.

Later (AN- Oh bloody hell, now I'm writing a recount! Where are we gonna go next, the zoo? Hmm…. Maybe some other chapter. UGH! SCREW THIS! I'm starting a new chapter. And I refuse to get rid of this! REFUSE!)

Tino had then dragged them all to the most glorious place of all, (in his mind), the aquarium. Call him childish, but no one was going to prevent him from seeing those turtles. Berwald seemed a little sad as they went past the penguins. **(AN- I swear to fucking god, there are penguins at the aquarium! I'm sure! Y'now what? I don't care! I hate this chapter! HATE IT! If there are penguins in Australia, they can live at the aquarium! The end.)**

"What's wrong, Berwald?" Tino asked, frowning.

Berwald blinked and shook himself out of his reverie. "It's nothing. I just…"

"You just?" Tino prompted.

Berwald voice was barely more than a mumble. "My little brother, he liked animals like penguins." To the shock of Tino, a small smile graced Berwald's features. "It was a puffin. Emil used to take it everywhere with him. He still does now, I think…"

"Homesick?" Tino asked sympathetically.

Berwald shook his head. "No, I just haven't seen my brothers in a while."

"Right." Tino said, before realising something. He really didn't know much about Berwald's home life. Should he ask him? But if he did, would Berwald ask Tino about his own? But what if he looked rude now that he didn't ask? Wait, would he look too nosy if he did? Oh, great, now he had been quiet or too long! Tino took a deep breath and continued with the conversation. "You have brothers?"

Berwald nodded. "Two little brothers. Emil is the youngest, he's turning seventeen next month. He's the one with a puffin toy."

"Aw, that's so cute! Wait, he's sixteen and he takes a toy around with him?" Tino gulped as he saw Berwald's serious expression. "Hey, I'm not judging! I wet the bed until I was twelve!" Tino quickly slammed his hand over his mouth. He giggled nervously. "Oops, I didn't mean to say that! Uh, so anyway, what about the other brother?"

"His name is Lukas. He is nineteen. He does not carry a stuffed toy."

Tino tucked some of his hair behind his ear. "Oh, okay."

"He does carry a lot of historical comics around though."

"Huh? Comics can be historical? Are you trying to say that those artists that I trusted so much, were actually making me learn!?"

Berwald shook his head, at what Tino wasn't sure. "Lukas writes a comic series, using Norwegian folklore as the basis for his ideas."

"Wow, that's so cool! I'll have to read it! You said he was only nineteen?"

Berwald nodded. "Yes, he's been very good at looking after himself. We all grew up separately, actually. Our parents divorced when we were young. Emil grew up with our father's parents in Iceland, Lukas grew up with our mother in Norway, and I grew up in Sweden." Berwald finished, his expression growing dark.

Tino was a little unsettled by his friend's expression. "But what about you? Who did you stay with, your father?"

"Not for long. Emil, our father and I went to live with or grandparent's after the divorce. But father had to go Sweden for his own reasons. He took me with him." Berwald turned away from Tino and glared at the penguins swimming through the water. **(AN- Fucking penguins)** He swallowed. "My father died."

Tino gasped. His eyes widened as he spoke. "Oh my gosh, Berwald, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have asked! You don't have to-"

Berwald shook his head. "No, this is good."

"Oh, well, how old were you? When it happened?"

"I was eight. But after I saw him… die, I ran away. I got lost in Sweden, and I didn't see my brothers gain until I was nineteen."

"What!?" Tino exclaimed. A few angry passer-by's turned to glare at him, unnoticed. "How is that possible!? Wouldn't people have been looking for you? Didn't you see the news? What about the police."

Berwald shook his head again. "You don't understand Tino, I couldn't. I was ashamed."

Tino cocked **(AN- Heheheh, mood wrecker, I wrote cocked. Hehehehe) **his head to the side. "Why were you ashamed?"

"Because my father's death was my fault!" Berwald snapped, finally looking at Tino, causing him to flinch. It was then that Tino saw the tears starting to mist in the Swede's eyes.

"Oh, I-I'm sorry. Never mind, I don't want to know." There were many things Tino didn't want to know, like how his father died and what he was doing all those years in Sweden. Tino turned to go walk on ahead, but Berwald stopped him by holding his shoulder lightly.

"No, it's okay. Another reason was that I could barely read or speak Swedish at the time."

Tino half smiled. "What about your picture?"

"I looked different once my hair grew out."

Tino snickered, imaging a Berwald with long hair. Was it just him, or would Berwald look a little like Thor if his hair was long now?

"Anyway, I eventually worked up the courage to see the police. At first they didn't believe me; they had actually assumed I was dead."

"That must have been horrible for Emil and Lukas."

Berwald nodded. "It was. As soon as they were told they came straight to Sweden. My mother was so upset; at least I think she was…"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, when I saw her again, she wasn't quite there, anymore. She didn't remember things as well as she used to, and her emotions were either dulled at times or amplified. It was like she was in her own world at times." Berwald's shoulders slumped. "Just another thing that was my fault. Apparently she had slowly gone like that after my father died. Lukas had had to look after her all by himself. I think he had the worst time."

"I'm so sorry, I…" Tino was at lost for words. What could he say? He couldn't change the past, no matter how many times he tried.

"Tino, you don't need to apologise. Anyway, my mother and brothers ended up permanently moving to Sweden, where they still live now. Lukas was the one who had the hardest time adjusting. He was so used to looking after all of us, especially Emil. He still does that now, I guess I can't be surprised that he already has a career. At least he found something worth it because of it."

"What do you mean?"

"Lukas met his fiancé at a comic convention where he was promoting his comic."

Tino raised an eyebrow. "A comic convention?"

"Yeah, his name is Mathias. I hate him."

"Wait, 'him'?"

"Yes, he is gay." Berwald said, looking at him evenly.

"Oh, no I didn't mean it like that!" Tino said hastily. "That doesn't bother me at all! I mean, that's Lukas' own business. I, uh, trust me Berwald, I'd be the last person to judge if someone was gay." Well, that wasn't awkward at all. Thankfully, Berwald seemed to let that comment slide. (AN- as a result of lazy writing. What's happening right now? I don't remember this. Where am I going with this? UGGGHH! LETTERS!) "You said you didn't like this 'Mathias', right Berwald?"

He shook his head in disagreement. "No, I said I hated him. He's very…. loud. And obnoxious, as well as childish. I don't know what Lukas saw in him."

"Aw, he can't be that bad."

"He is."

"Oh, well, how old is he?"

"Twenty. Personally, I think they've chosen to get married far too quickly. But it's not my choice, but I'll still have to see him for the rest of my life now."

Tino had a moment of realisation. "Hey, you said that they met at a comic convention right?" Berwald nodded. "I remember reading on the front page of a newspaper that there was a huge one coming up!" He finished excitedly.

"And?"

"We-ell, maybe Lukas could come and visit? He could promote his book at the convention, so it wouldn't be a total waste of money." He paused and considered what he had just said.

Oh my God! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it like that! Seeing you wouldn't be a waste, I swear. I just meant that the flight might be expensive!"

"No, I understand. It was a good idea, but that's the reason he can't visit. It's too expensive, and they are still pretty poor from sending me over here to work. Even the money I send back doesn't help much."

Tino felt his heart soften a little when he heard that Berwald had been supporting his family all the way back in Sweden.

"Is that why you came to Australia, to support your family?"

"Yeah." Berwald sighed, and then straightened. "I think that's enough about me. How about you?"

Tino started. "W-what? What do you mean?"

"Why did you move to Australia?"

Tino's face coloured a little. "I thought I said that was private." He muttered. Undeterred, Berwald continued staring at him, still waiting for an answer. He scoffed. "Fine. I came to Australia because I couldn't take living in Finland anymore, and Australia seemed to have some good job opportunities."

"Why?"

Tino huffed. "Because! There were too many bad memories! The end. Now come on, the others are far ahead by now." Tino forced a smile. "I really wanna see the turtles!" he gushed quickly before literally skipping ahead of his friend.

Well, that was an aversion tactic if Berwald had ever seen one. To be honest, Berwald was a little miffed that he had shared something deeply personal about himself, which he had never done before, and Tino had ignored him when he had asked one question. Actually, why had he shared that information with Tino? He really hadn't known him all that long, but already they were close. Huh, it's funny how love works, isn't it?

**AN- I'm sorry this one is shorter than most, but holy shit, there is so much progression in this chapter, y'know, back story wise. I really didn't mean to let that info up so early. It just happened. The next chapter will be set time-wise right after this one. I'm sorry about my ranting throughout this, I couldn't help it. **

**On a happier note, I went to Supanova this a weekend! It was awesome! Though I got crushed in the crowd a lot. I felt so short.**

**Later creatures!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Afraid of Love**

**Chapter 13**

**AN- Uh oh. 13. 13! I'm on Chapter 13! That's a very unlucky number! Oh God, I have a very bad feeling now. *touches wood***

"Honestly, you people are so immature." Roderick abolished.

"Shut it, Roddy!" Eliza instructed cheerfully as she skipped past arm in arm with Felix.

"You're not the only one who thinks that." Eduard muttered to the older man.

"Hey Eduard, come look at this!" Tino called. "I found the coolest park ever! It has this thing that you hold onto and it spins! It spins!"

"Really!? Wait up!" Eduard called back as he chased Tino over to the deserted equipment. Hey, you could never be too old for parks. Besides, they still had an hour or two to kill before the movie.

Roderick snorted and shook his head at the two younger men as they swung themselves around. It was a little odd to find a park smack in the middle of the city, especially just around the corner from work buildings and such.

Felix turned to Toris. "I'm hungry." He said, batting his eyelashes. "Can you please go and get me something to eat. You can do it, can't you, Tor-Tor?" He began curling a strand of Toris' hair around his finger, flirting with his boyfriend.

However, Toris wasn't that easily hoodwinked and wizened up after his initial blush. "You just want me to pay, don't you?"

Felix dropped the act. "Aw, come on! I'm broke and I need food! Need it! Please, don't you want to make me happy?"

"Yes, but won't you feel so much better once you can pay for things yourself and be independent."

"No."

Toris sighed. "I'm already paying for your ticket."

"Do you want me to meet your parents again?"

"Nevermind!" Toris said quickly. "What would you like?"

Felix beamed and began to list things that he wanted. Berwald turned to Tino, wary of him and his roommate as they continued to swing dangerously around. "Uh, Tino?"

Tino smiled and hopped off, making Berwald wince at how easily he could have fallen. He felt like a parent would if their child was on that thing. They would have both reacted the same way if the person they had been watching had fallen: holding them and smothering them in kisses.

"What's up, Berwaldo?"

"What?"

"Huh?"

Berwald shook his head. "Nothing. Um, would you like something to eat, also?"

"Now that I think about it, I'm starving! Hey guys, do you want me to go to the café around the corner and get everyone something in one go?"

The others nodded in agreement. "Sure, Tino. I'll go with you." Toris said.

Tino's easy going smile vanished abruptly, and was replaced with an uneasy one. "Uh, you don't have to, why don't you stay here with Felix?" He liked Toris, but he was still a little uneasy around him. This was really only the second time he had met him. He didn't want to be alone with him.

"No, it's okay, I have to pay for Felix and myself anyway." Toris persisted.

Eliza elbowed her husband in the side. "Why don't you pay for us, huh, Roddy?" she asked sweetly. 'Roddy' looked like he had just sucked on a lemon then had to eat it after he'd thrown it up. And also rub it in his eyes.

"P-pay?" he repeated with genuine fear.

"Yes, like a _gentleman_ should."

Tino laughed. "It's okay. I have money, I can pay it myself." He started walking away before Toris had the chance to argue. Toris tried to catch up with the blonde, but he stopped when an even bigger blonde placed a hand on his shoulder. Berwald shook his head at Toris and hurried to fall into step with Tino.

The Finnish man looked up in surprise as he saw Berwald. He frowned, but chose not to say anything. He liked spending time with Berwald. Even when they were along, he was almost comfortable! It seemed the more the big man was around him, the closer they became. Tino blushed. Well, they didn't have to become _too_ close.

Berwald and Tino sat at a table hidden in the corner of the café as they waited for their order. The Swede cleared his throat and looked at his friend. He opened his mouth, yet said nothing and stared at Tino. He had drawn blank on what he was about to say. Tino raised his eyebrows, as if he was asking him what he wanted.

Well, this was awkward.

"Uh, Tino?"

"Yup?"

"Can I ask you something?"

Tino paused before answering. "Uh, sure." He said warily.

"Do you have any family?" Berwald asked abruptly.

"What?" The suddenness of Berwald's question had thrown him off. "Oh, family." He smiled brightly. "Of course I have family! I have an auntie, and a cousin, and... Yeah, that's really it."

"What about your parents?"

Tino glared slightly. "What about them?" He asked, beginning to get aggressive. Unfortunately, Berwald could sometimes be totally oblivious and didn't realise how uncomfortable Tino was becoming.

"Well, what are their names?"

Tino sighed, and relented slightly. "My dad's name is Aulis. He left when I was little, so I never knew him well."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

Tino smiled thinly and shook his head. "Nah, it's okay. I barely knew the guy."

"Uh, what about your mother?"

Tino's face turned stony, and his body language showed Berwald how closed off he was becoming. "Oh, her. Her name is Tuuli."

"Do you talk to her often?"

Tino shook his head. His eyes were guarded, wary. "No, I haven't seen her in years. Anyway, I lived with my Aunt Anfisa- she's Russian- and my older cousin until last year."

Berwald was curious as to why he hadn't seen his mother in so long, but Tino seemed like he had finished sharing now.

Tino quickly stood up as he saw the cashier look around the café with their order in his hands. He strode off, collected his order and waited by Berwald at the door, before walking off with him. He made it clear that he wasn't going to talk by striding just in front of Berwald with a rigid back.

"Hey, Tino! Did you get my vanilla coffee?"

"Felix, that's rude!" Toris berated.

"Aw, come on!"

Tino smiled and shook his head at their antics. "Here you go." He said as he began handing out everyone's order. He sat beside Berwald on a bench and started picking at his croissant. Their friends all chattered around them, but Tino and Berwald were silent. But wasn't of the uncomfortable sort, no this silence was friendly, and calm. They were both fine just like that, comfortable with being in each other's company.

"Run! Come on, Toris!"

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-"

Eliza started skipping. "It's raining men! Hallelujah, it's raining men! Amen!"

Roderick groaned and tried to shield his hair from the rain with Eliza's jacket, which he had stolen from her a few moments earlier. "How is that song appropriate!?"

"Fine. I'm siiiiiiiiiiiiinging in the rain! I'm siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiining in the rain! What a glorious feeling, I'm haaaaaaaaaappy again!"

Tino started laughing and grabbed Eduard's wrist. "Come on, hurry! We'll miss the start."

Eduard stumbled after his friend, grinning. Oh, if his students could see him now. Here he was, soaked to the skin, running through the rain to get to a movie on time. _Then_ they'd see who the uptight one was!

Tino giggled and shook the water from his hair as best as he could. Not like that would do much good; they were still a block away from the IMAX theatres. He looked up in confusion as a shadow fell over him, only to see Berwald holding his wind jacket above him to shield him from the rain. "Oh, you don't have to do that. You'll get even wetter." **(AN- THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID! No regrets!)**

His big friend **(AN- Probably another that's what she said!)** shrugged. "It's okay, I don't mind."

Tino opened his mouth to argue, but changed his mind and smiled gratefully instead. Well, if he wanted to help Tino, why not let him?

"Oh, thank God, we're here!" Felix exclaimed, throwing his hands up dramatically. The large group huddled underneath the overhang together and tried to squish through the door with the other people. Because of that, Tino was pressed very tightly against Berwald, who ended up switching places with him. Somehow after that, Tino got through the crowd just fine in Berwald's wake. Maybe it was something to do with how Berwald kept murmuring 'excuse me' to the nearby people, and they quickly scrambled away in what might have been fear.

"Hey, back off, sister!" Felix snapped at an unfortunate lady who was shoved into him by mistake. Felix carefully smoothed his hair. "Do not touch my hair." Toris quickly muttered an apology to the woman behind Felix's back and returned to him with a raised eyebrow.

Felix shook his head in disbelief. "God, people are so rude these days. No sense of personal space!"

Toris snorted as he followed them all into the theatre. "Right."

**Time Jump (Yep, I cheated)**

"Ah! Hold me!" Felix squealed as held onto Toris' arm. Toris chuckled and patted his boyfriend's shoulder. "It's okay, why are you scared? This isn't even a scary movie."

Felix looked at him in horror. "Not scary!?" He gasped dramatically. "Have you no heart? Her dress has been ripped!"

"Felix, that happened almost five minutes ago. You're still going on about that?"

"Yes!"

"But look at what's happening now. Iron man is about to-"

"Shh! Stop talking during the movie, I can't hear anything."

Toris rolled his eyes. He couldn't tell if he was joking, or just being hypocritical. He looked around and saw Tino grinning at him in the darkness. Obviously, he had overheard everything. But who hadn't? It wasn't like Felix was a quiet person.

Tino sighed and snuggled into his seat. It was dark in the theatre, and besides the woman (or was it just Felix?) talking loudly, he was actually having a nice time. Maybe most of his enjoyment was due to Berwald sitting next to him. Because Berwald emitted a happy aura! Yeah, that's it! It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that their arms were side by side, and that their hands were almost touching. And he was certainly not overanalysing that at all. Eliza might be, but not him, no not at all. Tino glared at Eliza as she looked meaningfully at Berwald, then Tino and winked.

Why would she wink? Tino had stressed the fact that he didn't like Berwald. Now, that might not have been the complete truth, but still. The woman never listened to him. Tino slowly snuck a glance at Berwald and nearly jumped when he saw Berwald staring/glaring back. He quickly whipped his head away and stared blindly at the screen. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Berwald blush faintly and look away quickly. Tino smirked. Had Berwald been… checking him out? Tino blushed furiously at the thought. But somehow, that thought didn't make him feel sick like it usually would have. Maybe there had been some truth when Berwald had said that he had loved him?

Or maybe, as Tino realised a few minutes later, Berwald had just been staring at the chocolate on the side of his face.

"See ya later, guys!" Tino waved cheerfully at Eliza and Roderick as they left the movie theatre. Felix wrapped an arm around Toris' waist and bid Tino and Berwald goodbye and the two head for their own car.

Eduard turned to Tino. "So, I'll meet you back at the apartment, right Tino?"

"Yeah, sure." Tino agreed, deadpanned.

"Why is Tino not allowed in your car?" Berwald asked confused. Both Tino and Eduard had mentioned this, but neither had said why.

"Uh, no reason!" Tino stammered, stepping in front of Eduard. "Nothing, it's not important!"

"Not important!?" Eduard said, offended. "That car is my baby, Tino, _my baby_."

Berwald raised an eyebrow, amused.

Eduard scoffed and stepped around Tino. "The last time Tino was in my car, he spewed _everywhere_. Literally, not one chair was spared. I don't even know how he reached the back! And I had just picked him up from work, too. Couldn't he had at least have been considerate and had his spew-a-thon there? But no-o, he had to go and ruin my poor car!" He huffed and glared at Tino, whose head was hanging miserably.

The truth was, that had been the first time Tino had been alone with his boss, and the experience had been incredibly traumatizing for him. Tino mentally kicked himself. He was too fragile! Francis hadn't even done much. He'd only broken his personal bubble one too many times, winked at him creepily, and had held him around the waist. Actually, maybe he had reacted just fine!

"I'm sorry, okay? I had felt a little sick all day."

"Why didn't you take the day off then?"

"Because I had only worked there for a week! I couldn't have taken a day off already!"

Eduard sniffed. "Fine, fine, but you're still not coming in my clean car."

Tino rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

"Uh, I could give you a lift, if you want…" Berwald offered shyly.

"Really!? Thank you!" Tino beamed. "You're the best, Berwaldy!" He grinned as Berwald blushed at his new nickname.

"It's no problem, really."

Eduard snorted. "We'll see. Anyway, I'm off. I have to stop by the shops first, so I'll be late. Bye."

The drive back was quiet, with Tino very much aware that they were alone together. But why should he worry? He absolutely didn't like him at all. Nope, not at all. He just thought he looked very cute in a completely non-weird way. Y'know, since they were just friends. Right? Right? With those helpful thoughts in mind when they reached Tino's apartment, he graciously invited Berwald in. For coffee, of course! It most definitely wasn't because he wanted to spend more time with the big, cute, lovable- ahem, anyway….

"Uh, just sit over there." Tino pointed to their scruffy couch. "I'll be back, I'm just busting to pee right now. Be right back!" Berwald nodded and laughed inwardly as Tino dashed out of the room. He sat somewhat awkwardly on the edge of the couch and looked around him. And that's when he noticed them.

Those dreadful, horrid things.

The flowers.

Dread clawing at his stomach, Berwald reached out and carefully held up the card attached. _'My dear little Tino,' _It read _'always know that you are special. Love, your secret admirer.'_

What!? Tino had a secret admirer!? But- but- that wasn't fair! A glare slowly etched its way across the Swede's face. He felt spite fill him. Who dared to look at Tino this way. And they did it secretly? The creep. Who was it? He swore, the moment he found them, and he would, they would wish they had never decided to go after his innocent little Tino.

He buried the urge to scrunch up the paper. Whoever they were, Berwald would just have to up his game and beat them! He would win Tino's affection!

"So Berwal- OYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAH!"

"What!?"

"OYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"Oh, right, Tino I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you-"

"OYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! YOUR FACE IS SO SCARY!"

Berwald sighed. This was going to take a while.

**AN- Sorry about the cheating with the time jumps. I'm going to upload this chapter in a few hours, so I was rushing it. And yes, I know Tino's family member's names are weird. I used Google! I'm sorry!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Afraid of Love**

**Chapter 14**

**AN- Heyo, my creatures… I'm sorry? To make up for this late chapter, I shall…. Um, I'll… Give SuFin fluff! HAHAHA! …yep, that's the best I can do. Wait, I can't do that, it has to wait for the next chapter. Sorry… to the best people in the world who review! I actually noticed that a few of these people are from my other Hetalia multi-chap. Thanks for being totally awesome, jackcay101, Miss Doflamingo, Purestrongpoem, NordicFlags, Ayowaeeowa and last but not least, with the best pen-name ever, DancingOnRainbow! I know there were others who reviewed, but these people *tears up* these people, just… you people all receive Berwald hugs! And Berwald kisses!**

**Fuck it, why not? YOU ALL SHALL HAVE BERWALD SMEXXY TIME! With, uh, magic birth control! So no problem there ;)**

**2nd AN- OKAY! I'm sick of this shit! And it keeps happening! Tino is sad, Berwald makes him better! Tino's in trouble, Berwald saves him! NO! Tino will NOT become Bella Swan! Fuck that! Here's a bit of foreshadowing; BERWALD will be the one sad/in trouble and TINO will help him! ….that might not happen for a few more chapters, because I already planned out some drama. I just wanted you people to know that I noticed this. I think it's because I see Tino as uke too much.**

Humming, Tino began collecting the tablecloths and storing them away for washing. Roderick was also doing the same on his floor, but, you know, slower. He was so caught up in his work that it took him a minute to realise that someone was tapping him on the shoulder. Maybe that and the fact that it was Mathew.

"Uh, hello?"

"Oh, hey Mathew." Tino smiled. "Is there anything you want?"

The taller man seemed nervous. He continuously pushed his glasses further up and his eyes flickered around wearily. "Could we talk somewhere, uh, more private?"

"Uh, sure, follow me" Tino lead his friend with a confused expression to the counter. No one was there at the moment, as the woman who worked there had already left. He wondered what was wrong. Mathew was usually happy.

"Um, Tino, I need to tell you something." He tugged at his sleeve nervously. "But you have to promise that you won't be mad at me."

Tino nodded seriously. "Sure, you can tell me anything. I won't get mad at you."

This seemed to reassure Mathew, if only a little. "It's about my brother."

Uh oh. Was Tino in trouble!? Had he done something wrong? What if his boss wanted to fire him? He needed this job! "What about him?" he asked carefully.

"Please don't tell him I told you! I just… I worry, a lot, and I'm afraid that my brother doesn't understand boundaries."

Tino cocked his head in confusion. What did Mathew mean? This didn't sound like it was about work… An uneasy feeling began to grow in the Finn's stomach. "Mathew, what is this about?"

The Canadian chewed his lip nervously, before finally blurting it out. "Francis is in love with you! Well, I'm not actually sure if he's in love, but he definably has a crush on you. Well, uh, maybe not that either, but he thinks you're hot, basically, and…"

Tino had stopped listening. His expression had glazed over and he stared blankly at the wall. Francis… like him?

Shit.

"Mathew," Tino stopped him. "was it Francis who sent me those flowers?"

Mathew nodded. "Yeah, well technically it was me, and I paid, but Francis was the one who told me to do that. He told me to send you a bunch every Monday."

That was true, Tino had been receiving roses for the past few weeks with notes in French attached. He hadn't even gotten around to translating them, he had been too busy working or hanging out with his friends. Especially Berwald. It was strange, Tino had never gotten so close to someone in such a short amount of time. Not to mention these strange feelings Tino experienced when his tall friend was around. He wasn't even scared around him anymore, apart from the usual touching thing. But it was getting better! Now he could shake his hand when they met up!

But now there was Francis. He certainly creeped Tino out. And he was his boss. There was no way he could a have a relationship with him, even if he wanted to. Which he didn't. But what if Francis confronted him? Would he be mad if Tino said no? Would he fire him?

But the worst thought was, what if Francis didn't listen when he said no?

Tino shuddered and turned back to Mathew, who was now watching him with a concerned look on his face. "Um, Mathew, I'm very flattered and all, but I'm not gay."

"Pfft, Tino's as straight as a rainbow." Roderick scoffed as he walked by, dumping some papers on the desk before heading back to his floor.

Tino rolled his eyes. "Yeah, okay, I might be gay, but that doesn't mean I'm into your brother. Oh, no offense!"

Mathew smiled. "It's okay, that's why I told you. I just think that you should be a little more careful, and a little clearer with your intentions around my brother." Mathew checked his watch. "I'm sorry, but I really need to go now. I'll see you later then."

"Yeah, sure, bye." Tino said dully. He wandered back to the dining room and packed up the rest of the sheets, finishing the task with dull, repetitive movements.

Oh God, what was he going to do?

Tino barely registered when the bell jingled as someone walked into the restaurant. Usually he would have been surprised that someone would walk in so late, but he was too distracted.

He flinched as someone cleared their throat behind. He whipped around, half expecting his boss to be standing there. His heart began to calm down when he realised that it was only Berwald.

Wait, what? Why was Berwald here? He should have been working, too. Why was he visiting him? "Uh, hey Berwald, what are you doing here?"

Berwald stared at him, concentrating. He leaned in, his eyes never leaving Tino's violet ones. Tino felt a blush grace his features under Berwald's hard scrutiny. The Swede looked dedicated to what he was about to do. His lips moved, and Tino was unable to tear his eyes away from them. Berwald came even closer, eliminating the gap between them….

**AN- :D See you all on Sunday/Monday! I made this short just so I could screw with everyone :P**


	15. Chapter 15

**Afraid of Love**

**Chapter 15**

_Last chapter… Berwald stared at him, concentrating. He leaned in, his eyes never leaving Tino's violet ones. Tino felt a blush grace his features under Berwald's hard scrutiny. The Swede looked dedicated to what he was about to do. His lips moved, and Tino was unable to tear his eyes away from them. Berwald came even closer, eliminating the gap between them…._

"What is your name?" Berwald asked suddenly. **AN- Ahem, BAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITCH! Trollin' trollin' trollin', troll HIIIIIIIIIGH!**

"W-what!?" Tino stuttered out, blushing furiously. Berwald still refused to back away, so they were stuck there talking, whilst awkwardly standing far too close together. "Have you ever heard of personal space!?"

Berwald ignored him. "What is your name?"

Tino was confused. He couldn't have forgotten him, could he? "What are you talking about? You know my name."

"Your full name."

"Oh, uh, it's Tino Väinämöinen. W-why are you…?"

Berwald nodded swiftly. "Yes, my name is Berwald Oxenstierna ."

Tino blinked, confused. "Uh, okay. Hi, Berwald, heh heh..." He tried to lean back, but was prevented as his back hit the wall and Berwald only came closer. "So, uh, what is this about?"

He didn't answer. Instead, the Swede leaned in ever so slowly and…. nuzzled Tino's nose with his own? Then, as if nothing strange had happened, Berwald turned abruptly and left.** AN- Yeah, that's a joke between my friend and I. Hi Wubsy! Anyone want to draw me that image?**

Thoroughly confused, Tino saw Roderick snickering across the room at him. Slowly wandering over him, he said the only thing acceptable.

"What. The. Fuck?"

* * *

He was a spy! He was the best spy ever! No one could have been a better spy than he was! Well, except for his brother Mattie, but that wasn't the point. Actually, Francis would have made his brother follow the Swede back to his work, and then go himself when he found out where he was, but he hadn't been able to find him.

But back to the matter at hand. At the moment, the French man was following a certain frightening man who had just left his restaurant. He had just been travelling downstairs for a nice chat with Tino when he saw him. From where he had been spying/standing, it had looked a hell of a lot like they were kissing. That just wouldn't do. He just wanted to talk to the man, and also tell him to back the hell off. Tino was his, and he wouldn't let anyone take him away from him.

Francis flattened himself against the wall quickly. The boyfriend stealer (or at least in his mind) had stopped in front of some old fashioned boat and was now organising some tools around him. He took a deep breath. Okay, it was now or never, he thought to himself.

Summoning a confident façade, the French man strode towards Berwald, tapped him on the shoulder and promptly walked away when he saw his expression. Maybe it wasn't a good time.

Francis stopped. Hang on, why should he walk away? That man needed to know he had to back off, bad time or not. He turned back to he man. "Hey, you! Listen to me!"

Berwald raised an eyebrow. "Ja?"

Francis gulped. He refused to be afraid of this man. This man was practically pissing on his pride! He pointed at him. "You need to back off, okay!? Just- just go away!"

"I work here."

"Not here! I mean, you have to leave my lover alone!" Francis answered frantically.

"Who?"

What, was he playing stupid now? "Don't lie to me! You need to back your horniness off! Tino is mine, and mine only!"

Oh shit. What had he just said? The very tall and dangerous looking man just got scarier. His face had groan darker, and for a second, Francis saw something dark flicker in his eyes.

Berwald stood up.

Shit!

He walked over to Francis, fists balled.

Shit shit shit shit shit shit-

He placed a hand on the French pervert's shoulder. His strength was being restrained, but only barely. Probably because there were witnesses around.

"Your name?"

"P-pardon?"

"Your _name?"_ He repeated in a voice that demanded not to be questioned again.

"Francis. Bonnefoy, that is."

Berwald nodded to himself. Francis felt a small bubble of hope. Maybe he would be allowed to live? "Mr Bonnefoy, Tino is not _yours_. Do not ever claim ownership of him again."

Francis nodded frantically. "Sure, sure! Whatever you say."

"Also, I will kill you."

"WHAT!?"

"…If you ever hurt Tino."

"Oh, okay, that won't ever happen."

"Alright. Now swim."

"….Pardon?"

Berwald raised an eyebrow. He led Francis over to the edge of the dock. He gestured to the murky water in front. "Swim."

"But… I don't want to."

Berwald squeezed his shoulder lightly. "I could break your finger."

"Please don't."

"Arm?"

"You can't do that!"

Something evil glinted in Berwald's eye. "Can't I?" He asked before promptly shoving the screaming French man into the water below.

* * *

Berwald relaxed in his favourite lounge room chair, from IKEA of course. He still had some country pride. The still-yet-to-be-named-dog yipped happily around his feet at his return before jumping up and curling up on his lap. He really needed to think of a name for her. Maybe he would ask Tino the next time he saw him? The Swede fondly scratched her behind her ear, before reaching over and grabbing his laptop.

After firing up his laptop, and then Google (because who uses any other search engine, right?). He then spent almost an hour trying to spell Tino's last name. He even looked to his dog for advice. Tino Vaynamoyen? …..Nope. Tino Vanamoinen? ….Oh, definably not! Tino Vainamoinen? …Yes! Berwald had found himself on a 'Facebook' profile, with a picture of certain cute blonde. Berwald wasn't exactly sure what 'Facebook' was, but it seemed very intrusive upon Tino's personal life. It kept mentioning everything he liked or said. Tino likes bubble gum. Tino likes this page. Tino likes Harry Potter- Always. Tino commented on Roddy Piano Pants picture. Confused at the name, he clicked on it and more intrusive sentences appeared. Roderick plays Piano Hero. Roderick likes Piano Hero's page. Roderick changes his name to Roddy Piano Pants- Eliza Luvsyah likes this. Roddy comments on Eliza's wall. Intrigued, Berwald clicked on the link and a conversation popped up.

_Roddy Piano Pants- ELIZA! I told you not to hack my Facebook!_

_Eliza Luvsyah- HAHAHAHA but it's true! –Tino likes this._

_Tino MoominMonster- XD I think we have a new nick name… -Eliza likes this._

_Eliza Luvsyah- OMG YES!_

_Roddy Piano Pants- How do you change your name back!?_

_Tino MoominMonster- XD Not telling_

_Eliza Luvsyah- lol_

_Roddy Piano Pants- I refuse to become a part of you idiotly named idiots! –Ludwig likes this._

_Tino MoominMonster- Ooooh! Alliteration! –Eliza likes this._

_Roddy Piano Pants- Shut up! This is embarrassing!_

_FrancyFroggyPants FromFrance- It's better than what's been done to mine…_

_Iggy Eyebrows- Tell me about it. –FrancyFroggyPants likes this._

_Alfred FTW- BAHAHHAHAHAHA who's profile is this?_

_Iggy Eyebrow- I don't know, I was following Francis._

_Alfred FTW- I was following you._

_Roddy Piano Pants- HELLO!? Why is no one helping ME!? And you changed my security settings, didn't you Eliza!_

_Tino MoominMonster- XD XD XD XD XD_

Berwald shook his head and frowned. It seemed like a website to stalk people. A strange one, too. He looked around a little more on Tino's profile. His eyes widened as a 'status' had been posted a few minutes ago from Tino.

_Tino MoominMonster- Oh my God, today was sooooooooo weird. I wonder why EVERYONE keeps assuming that I'm gay!?_

Berwald's stomach plummeted. Tino was… straight? No, maybe he was lying. He refreshed the page and he saw that a few comments had been posted.

_Roddy Piano Pants- Because you are. Like a RAINBOW!_

_Tino MoominMonster- Still haven't changed that name? -_-_

_Roddy Piano Pants- SHUT UP I DON'T BELIEVE IN YOU!_

Berwald shut his laptop. It would do him no good to continue deeper into this black hole that was 'Facebook'. Maybe he'd try it later. For now, he was going to sleep and dream of ripping apart Francis Bonnefoy… He would really have to do something about him. Hopefully something legal.

**AN- Yes I know it's short! But don't worry! I have heaps planned! I had to cut it because I really need to update *checks time* now. And yes. England will be in this, as you probably have guessed, but it won't be a looooooooooooong time. Also, you will hate him by the end. Sorry!**

**Also, I believe that my plot for this chapter deserves to be shown-**

**Afraid of Love Plan**

**-Tino's at work, Canada comes up and starts talking to him and warns him about his brother**

**-Canada tells him that it was France who sent him the flowers (sorta)**

**-Tino's officially scared of France now, and babbles that he's not gay**

**-Roderick says he is as straight as a rainbow\**

**-Berwald stops by randomly and asks for Tino's full name so he can use his BEEP -experience to look him up**

**-Francis follows him back to his work**

**-CUT TO BERWALD'S WORK**

**-Um, Berwald is doing work**

**-France appears! DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN**

**-GET READY FOR THE SHOWDOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWN YO ITS ABOUT TO GO DOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWN!**

**I was soooooooooooo tempted to make the bit where France and Sweden talk a songfic XD You know the song, Showdown by the Black Eyed Peas.**

**Random bit- I'm learning Spanish! I HATE consonants, especially 'd' and 'rr'. I don't mind 'r' that much.**

**Later my creatures!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Afraid of Love**

**Chapter 16**

**AN- It's been a month since the last chapter (in the story). Don't worry, nothing important happened, it's just now I can say that they've hung out for a reasonable amount of time.**

"Aw, I'm tired. Toris, carry me!"

"Uh, I'm not that strong…"

"Are you saying I'm fat!?"

"No, Felix, I'm saying that I'm weak."

"Toris~" Felix whined as he dodged a branch. "Please? I wasn't made to walk through stupid trees and stupid bushes! I was made for shopping, and pony rides!"

Tino snickered. "So, you're essentially a teenage girl."

Felix gave him a dirty look. "Yes," he hissed. "I am a teenage girl. Are you trying to offend me here?"

Tino held up his hands in a peacemaking gesture. "No, I'm not! I'm sorry, never mind."

"I think he's playing." Berwald said softly, walking besides Tino. He held up a few branches as Tino walked under them. Berwald practically had to crawl on all fours to avoid being smacked by any branches around his friend's height and over.

A week ago, Toris had received a prize from a contest that he had entered upon a whim a while ago. The exciting 'surprise' prize was…. camping gear. More specifically, two tents, five sleeping bags and a torch.* Not being one to waste things, Toris had suggested to Felix and Berwald, who had in turn asked Tino, that they all go away camping for the weekend. Tino had had to negotiate with his boss a little about his days off in order to go. Surprisingly, Mr Bonnefoy had been very pleasant about it. He said that in return, Tino just had to stay behind a little after work to help him with some things. How nice was that? He had contemplated asking Roderick and Eliza along, but he knew Roderick would throw a complete fit if he had to spend a night outside and Eliza wouldn't want to leave without him. Eduard was of course far too busy with work for students that weekend. Tino had even pre-made some food for him and put it in the fridge, since he knew Eduard wouldn't bother with it if he deemed the task too long.

So here they were, wandering around in the bush, or the 'outback' as some people call it, seemingly lost.

"Uh, Toris," Tino began. "Do you know where we are going?"

"Uh, sorta." He replied feebly. "The map says… this way. Most likely."

Berwald took the map from Toris, who didn't bother protesting. He really wasn't good at reading directions.

"We're going the wrong way." Berwald told them. He pointed towards the left. "The campsite is that way."

Felix groaned. "Why didn't we drive!?" He complained before trudging in that direction.

* * *

Two hours. That's how long it took to find the campsite. Two freaking hours walking through low-branch trees, grass up to their waists, bugs everywhere and listening to screeching birds and something growling behind them. Needless to say, no one was especially looking forward to the next two days, especially Felix. Unfortunately, Toris was on the receiving end of quite a few death glares.

By now they had found an okay spot, a little away from the two other groups. They had just split the tents between them; Felix and Toris in one, Tino and Berwald in the other. Tino tried not to giggle at the thought of spending the night with Berwald. Wait, he was giggling!? Why would he giggle at that!? It's not like he was excited or anything about it.

Tino peaked over at the two other families as he and Berwald set up their tent (okay, it was Berwald who did that, Tino was supervising). One family was an older looking man with a beaming expression, and two twin boys who Tino guessed were his grandchildren, or maybe his sons? The three each had a curl on their heads. Tino smiled as one of the twins insisted on hugging the frowning one. It would be nice to have a kid, he thought. Maybe one day.

"Could you hold this pole?"

"Oh, yeah, sure." He said, holding it up and narrowly avoiding poking Berwald's eye out. He looked at the last family. A dark haired man, around Tino's age, and a little girl with the same hair. He frowned. He hoped they were related. But the way the girl acted around the man quelled his uneasy feelings at least. Maybe he was her older brother? He couldn't be her dad, he looked too young. Maybe an uncle?

Berwald followed Tino's gaze. "What is it?"

"Oh, it's nothing, I was just hoping they were related. It looks a little strange, a man with a little girl in the woods." Tino slapped a hand across his mouth. "Oh my God, I didn't mean for that to come out so wrong!"

Berwald pointed at them before his arm was slapped down by Tino. "Berwald," he hissed. "we can't let them know that we're talking about them!"

"Tino, that man is the ranger. He's wearing the uniform."

Tino blinked. "Oh, but then who is the girl?"

"She's wearing a girl guide's uniform. She must be here on a camp with her guide."

Tino blushed. "Oh, then I guess I was way off, then. Thank God, I mean! I wouldn't want it to be true."

They were interrupted as a rather loud remark came from Felix. "Toris, I need to piss!"

"Well, we're in the woods."

Felix scoffed. "Are you implying that I just whip my dick out-"

"Felix!" Tino chided. "There are children here!"

Felix looked a little sheepish. "Oops, sorry. Anyway, surely they have a bathroom here, right? There are girls here, they wouldn't just squat."

Toris raised an eyebrow. "You're going to use the girl's bathroom? Do you know how that might look…?"

"Toris," Felix began deadpan. "I may cross dress, but I know where to draw the line." He grabbed Tino's wrist. "You have to come with me. We'll ask that ranger guy."

"O-okay, wait, why am I going with you?"

"Because we're in the freaking out back! There might be, like, psychopaths out here!"

"That's reassuring. But why not Toris?"

Felix looked at him incredulously. "You don't just piss in front of your boyfriend! That is a no-no." He stopped a few feet away from the ranger, who had looked up when he had heard Felix's ranting. "Hey, you, mister ranger guy."

"Felix, don't be rude."

"Shut it, Tin-Tin."

The ranger laughed, standing up and holding out his hand. "Hey, guys, nice to meet you. I'm the ranger, Jack McGrath." Now that they were face to face, Tino noticed a band aid across the bridge of his nose and enormous eyebrows. Jack pointed over towards the girl who was fiddling with a sleeping bag. "That's my sister, Wynne, but just call her Wy." The girl looked up. She had small, but bushy eyebrows like her brother and her hair was pulled back in a side ponytail with a flower-scrunchie. Tino felt even worse now about what he had assumed earlier.

Wynne, who looked about ten, walked over to them and held out her hand. The corner of Tino's mouth tugged when he saw her serious expression and shook her hand.

"Hi, I'm Wy. It's nice to meet you."

"Aw, hi I'm Tino! It's nice to meet you too!"

Jack laughed and tousled his sister's hair, much to her annoyance. "She likes to act all mature. Sometimes I think she's the older one. I'm taking her camping for the weekend. Y'know, protecting her from the wild! Teaching her survival skills, and stuff."

She glared at him. "Protecting me? Dude, I learn survival skills at guides, I'm fine."

Jack crowed and pointed at her. "You said 'dude'! You are a child! Ha ha ha! Suckah, I'm the mature one now! Burn!"

Wy blinked and shook her head, before turning back to the two. "Was there something you need? Jack won't be able to help you; he's too far gone now."

"Hey! Shut ya face, shortie!" Jack protested.

"Do you know where the bathroom is?" Felix asked, now resorting to crossing his legs.

She nodded and pointed over to a small brick building. "Boys are on the right sides, girls on the left."

Felix cocked his head. "Huh. How did I not see that? Never mind, I gotta peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eee!" Felix exclaimed, running towards the building, having forgotten all about Tino. Tino smiled and shook his head.

"I'd better head back now. I'll see you around."

Jack beamed and waved. "See ya! Have fun. Oh, and Tino?"

"Yeah?"

Jack looked at him seriously for a moment. "If you litter, or fuck up my park at all, I'll kick your arse, got it?"

Tino nodded quickly. "Of course! Don't worry."

Jack grinned again while Wy rolled her eyes. Tino returned to his little camp where Berwald and Toris were sitting in front of their tents.

"Did you find the toilets?" Toris asked.

"Yeah, they're over there." Tino said, pointing. "I met that ranger, and his sister. They seem nice."

"Oh, good, you don't want to know what happened last time we couldn't find the bathroom."" Toris said, relieved.

"What happened?" Berwald asked.

"Uh, well to be fair, Felix was drunk. I swear, he didn't realise it was the fridge…."

"Toris! I told you we would never speak about this again." Felix, who had just returned, glared at him meaningfully and sat beside him.

"Oh, sorry." He apologised sheepishly.

Felix pouted and started rummaging around in one of his many bags.

"What are you looking for?" Toris questioned.

Felix huffed and threw his bag to the ground. "Do you know where my ugg boots are?"

Berwald raised his eyebrows. "You brought… ugg boots?"

"Yeah, why?" Felix asked, confused. "What's wrong with that?"

Toris sighed and shook his head. "I found them in my bag. You must have put them in there when you ran out of room." Geez, Tino thought, how many things did that guy bring? "I put them next to your sleeping bag."

Felix stood up and went to find his precious footwear. A few minutes later, though, a scream erupted from the tent and Felix flew out, crashing straight into his boyfriend's lap.

Berwald stood in front of Tino in a defensive position, eyes alert. He wasn't sure what he was protecting him from, but he sure was going to make sure that no harm came to his Finn. Jack quickly jogged towards them, Wy following behind him.

"Felix, what is it!? Tell me." Toris asked frantically.

Felix clutched him and murmured into his shoulder.

"I-I'm sorry, what?"

"A… a spider…."

Toris stopped trying to calm him down. "What?"

"A spider was in my boot!" Felix howled.

Jack laughed. "Are you serious? A spider? But a spider can't even hurt you."

"Yes it can!" Felix protested.

"Not the spiders around here, Wy, go get it." Tino frowned as the little girl went inside the tent, and returned holding something in her hand.

Felix squealed. "Ew, get it away! Why are you holding it!?"

Wy frowned. "I'm not enjoying this. But it's only a Daddy Long Legs."

"It's huge."

"It's legs are _sticks_. How are you scared of this?" Wy exclaimed incredulously.

"Kill it! Crush it!"

"I'll crush you!" Wy threatened.

"Why am I being threatened by a nine-year-old girl holding a death machine!?"

"I'm ten!"

"Okay, calm down." Jack stepped between them, holding his hands up. "Look, I can solve this." He took the spider from his sister and placed it on a tree a few metres away from the. "Now, all we need is a cage for Wynne and we're all good."

"Hey! Shut ya face, bean-pole!"

"But it'll just come back." Felix whined. "Spiders are sneaky like that."

Jack snickered. "It'll be fine, don't worry about it."

Tino smiled. "Thanks, Jack. And you too, Wy."

Wy nodded and walked back to her camp. Jack followed after her. "No worries!" He called over his shoulder.

Toris stood up and stretched. "Okay, I think it's time we're off to bed." He headed towards his tent. "Night."

Berwald grunted and followed his lead. Tino gulped and headed towards his tent. Now he had to spend the night alone with Berwald. This was going to be awkward.

**AN- Okay, here are all the characters-**

**Jack McGrath- Australia. I changed his last name because I don't want him to be related to England.**

**Wynne- Wy, a micronation, who is freaking awesome and I want one.**

**The other family at the campsite- Grandpa Rome, and the two twins (about Wy's age) Italy and Romano.**

**Yep, it's short. I procrastinated too long, okay? And I thought it work out better if I split this chapter up.**

***okay, I ran out of prizes, so I wrote a torch XD What else do you take on camping trips?**

**CLUE FOR THE FUTURE- Micronations! (cue 'awwwww')**

**Oh, I witnessed something horrible the other day! I was in the change rooms at school, and then some girls were screaming. Apparently there was a spider on the wall. Now, there is always a spider on the wall. And it was a Daddy Long Legs. And they KILLED IT! How could they!? Those are the only good spiders L R.I.P Daddy Long Legs. Poor thing.**

**P.S Those spiders really tickle when you hold them.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Afraid of Love**

**Chapter 17**

**AN- Crap! Guys, I'm so sorry! I didn't realise that I had already used Italy, and I used him at the campsite XD Sorry, now just imagine that the other family at the campsite are just normal people. A pop and his twin grandsons. Not the Italians. Sorry for the mistake.**

Damn them, damn them all! Damn those stupid birds that had dared to wake Tino up at six am with their laughter, damn the bugs that had crawled all over him, and damn Berwald for being such a good heater! Damn himself too, that sounded weird!

Okay, when Tino had been rudely awoken this morning by those birds, he had found his arms wrapped around something big and warm. Apparently, during the night, he must have grown cold because _somehow_ he had managed to migrate, inside a sleeping bag, to Berwald, and hug him from behind. He really didn't know. Well, in his unconscious mind's defence, Berwald was really warm.

He had had to bite his lip to keep himself from squealing when he realised what he was doing. How had he even managed to hug him? Berwald was huge! Not to mention the fact that he was practically spooning him. Seriously, everything was pressed against him. _Everything_. He had wriggled away from him as quietly as he could. Tino shuddered. He had lain there for a while, his heart thumping as he listened to Berwald's soft snoring.

Thank God he had woken up first, Tino thought in relief. At the moment, they were slowly trekking down to a river to swim. Despite the freezing morning, the afternoon was full of sweltering heat and a swim sounded like heaven on Earth. Even Jack and his sister were joining them, abandoning their earlier plan of hiking. Felix was chattering excitedly about his new swimsuit (it had taken Toris a while to convince him not to wear a bikini (why, and how he'd wear that, we'll never know) and settle for board shorts), everyone was anticipating the cool water.

Everyone except Tino.

It seems that everyone had forgotten a small, insignificant detail; _he couldn't swim._ He hadn't even wanted to go along. He had only followed after the promise of Berwald in board shor- Ahem, he meant, he only followed when Wy had asked him. Tino couldn't say no to such a cute little kid! Erm, yeah, that was the whole reason. Yep. Besides, he was just going to dip his feet in. There was no real need to go in.

"Hey, Teeny-Tino!" Felix called cheerfully and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, which was quickly shrugged off. "How come you're wearing a shirt? No one else is."

He was right. Tino was the only one wearing board shorts and a light t-shirt. "Oh, I, um, I burn really easily." He covered quickly. It wouldn't be polite to tell him the real reason for the shirt.

"Don't worry, I have sunscreen. Here, I'll put some on you." Felix offered as he squirted some in his hand.** (AN-….please, tell me someone got that.)**

Tino ducked away from him. "No, it's okay, I'd rather keep my shirt on."

Felix shrugged. "Okay, suit yourself."

Jack sped past them with his sister on his shoulders. "WOOOOH! Swim! Swim! Swim!" they chanted together. Tino smiled when he caught Wy's beaming expression. She really did adore her brother.

"Hurry up, guys!" Jack called as he skidded to the edge of the water. He unceremoniously dumped his sister on the ground, tore off his shirt and charged into the water. Felix grabbed his boyfriend's wrist and pulled him into the water after Jack, laughing giddily.

Tino laughed nervously. Would he be expected to go in next? He looked next to himself at Wy. The little girl, now wearing her usual serious expression, walked calmly into the water and started swimming after her brother. Tino glanced at Berwald, who was- Oh dear God, nosebleed.

Berwald was standing, in all his glory, without a shirt. Let me repeat that, Berwald _wasn't wearing a shirt_. Tino felt his face heat up as he stared at the Swede's pale chest. Oh God, he needed to stop staring. Look away! Look away! Look away! No such luck, Tino couldn't tear his eyes away from his friend.

Oh God, this is all kinds of wrong. He couldn't perve on Berwald! More importantly, he couldn't be _caught_ perving on Berwald. Uh oh, it might be a little too late.

Berwald stared at him. "Is something wrong?"

Tino shook his head frantically. "Nope," he quipped. "nothing at all! I'm just going to, uh, I'm just gonna go into the water." He started stumbling towards the water, grinning giddily. Wow, Berwald worked _out_. He wondered what it would feel like if he just reached out and- No! No no no, Tino, he told himself, focus on the water!

Suddenly his arm was seized by a sturdy hand and Tino was yanked back. He tried to free himself, but he was held with a grip of iron. "What the hell are you doing!?" he cried, glaring fiercely into Berwald's concerned blue ones.

"What were you thinking!?" Berwald frowned at him, which was almost as terrifying as the grip on his arm. "You can't swim! You shouldn't risk going in the water."

Tino stopped struggling. To be honest, he couldn't help but feel quite flattered that Berwald felt so protective, despite how aggressive he was being. "I was just going to stand in there; I wasn't going to full on swim. I'm not a idiot, you know."

Berwald's expression softened. "I'm sorry, 'lease for'ive me." He said earnestly, his accent coming out strong in his emotions.

Tino felt a little bad now. Damn him and his cute face! Especially his cute face! "U-uh, it's okay, don't worry about it."

**Berwald's P.O.V**

Berwald finally released his arm. The big man winced as he saw Tino turn away from him and trying to secretly massage his arm. Dammit, after all that talk of protecting his Finn, he himself had hurt him. He had to fix this.

Tino started walking towards the water. Like hell Berwald was going to let that happen!

Without warning, he scooped the smaller man up. Tino squealed and laughed, holding on tightly to Berwald's shoulders. Berwald felt his stomach flutter at how happy his Finn was. For once, he seemed to forget his fear of touch.

Tino froze, and looked at Berwald blankly before shaking his head. His fierce expression returned and he glared at him. "Put. Me. _Down_."

Berwald shook his head. "This is the only way I'm allowing you to go in the water."

Toris seemed to have noticed them arguing. "Uh, Berwald? We talked about this. You're- hey! You're not allowed to pick people up! At _least_ not without their consent."

Berwald stared coolly at the man. It didn't take long for Toris to fold.

"Or, well, you could just do that! Hah hah, fun in the water and stuff…"

Keeping a firm grip on the struggling man, Berwald slowly walked into the water until it reached his knees. Tino immediately froze as soon as he felt the water splash at his toes. He frantically wrapped his arms around Berwald's neck and his legs around his waist, hanging on for dear life. Berwald felt a blush rise to his face. No, he told himself, control yourself. Tino needs you to help him.

Tino buried his face in Berwald's shoulder. "I- I don't know, maybe we should go back to the actual ground.

"Shh," Berwald tried to soothe him. "It's okay, see? You can easily stand up. Do you want to try?"

Tino shook his head. "No."

"Why not?"

"I'll fall."

"I won't let you." Berwald didn't bother to question how Tino believe he would fall in this small amount of water.

Tino slowly revealed his face. "You won't hold me under… right?"

Berwald felt alarm swarm in his chest. Why would Tino even ask something like that? Looking into his eyes, he could see that his fear was genuine. Was this the reason Tino never learned how to swim? Nevermind, now wasn't the time to ask such things.

"I promise I won't." Tino still looked a little unsure as he eyed the water wearily. "You could hold my hand?" he offered.

Tino's head snapped up. "I'm not a baby!" he pouted. Gingerly, he unwrapped his legs from Berwald and dipped them into the water.

"Gak! Where's the bottom!?" Tino cried out, re-tightening his grip around his neck.

Berwald grunted. "You'll touch it, if you'll let go of me a little."

"Oh, heh heh, I knew that." Tino laughed nervously. Slowly, he loosened his grip on Berwald and lowered himself into the water gently. He bit his lip as the cool water rose above his hip. The water might have only been up to Berwald's hip, but it was much higher on Tino. He dug his nails into Berwald's shoulder unknowingly.

"See? You're okay."

Tino nodded quickly. "Yeah, sure."

Berwald looked at him dubiously, but let him be for the moment. Well, as much as he could whilst holding his hips. That wasn't weird, was it?

Tino smiled slightly. He looked up, and to his delight, beamed at Berwald. "Hey, I'm in the water! And I'm not drowning!"

Berwald nodded. "Good work."

Hearing acknowledgement, Tino started splashing his arms around in the water as a child would. He giggled nervously when he realised that Berwald's face was now splattered with water. If it had been anyone else, Berwald would have been less than impressed. But this was Tino, and Berwald was glad that he was getting used to the water. Besides, he was acting really cute.

"Hey guys! Watch this!" Jack called. He had climbed to the top of a hill overlooking the lake and was standing proudly with sister.

Tino bit his lip. "Be careful!" he called.

Jack waved him off. "No worries!" he turned to sister. "Role play?"

Wy nodded, before looking at him with dramatic adoration in her eyes. She placed a hand on his arm. "I'll never let you go, Jack!" She vowed before pushing him off the overlook.

Jack let out a wild laugh before crashing into the water. "That was awesome!" he exclaimed after he splashed to the surface.

Felix, who had climbed onto Toris' shoulders, applauded. "That was the best rendition of Titanic that I, like, have ever heard!"

Wy nodded, before backing up a few steps to get a running start. Tino looked at Jack in panic. "Jack, she can't jump from there! She'll break her neck!"

Jack shook his head. "It's fine."

Tino glared. "But look how fragile she is! She'll snap like a twig!" But before either of them could take action, Wy ran and swan dived off of the cliff. Tino gasped and covered his mouth. He started to awkwardly waddle as fast as he could to where she had landed.

Berwald placed a hand on his shoulder. "Look."

Tino's head snapped up as he heard splashing and gasping ahead of him. He crashed over to Wy to make sure she was okay. What he didn't take into account was the reason she took so long to rise to the surface. That was the only area deep enough to dive into, and Wy had taken longer than her brother because of her little legs. Of course, none of this registered to Tino until he plunged down into the water because of his rabid motherly instincts.

'Dammit! Not again!' Berwald raged in his head before plunging in after his friend. Why did Tino always assume the worst? That was his job. He had pointed at Wy to tell him she was okay. Seriously, almost drowning once on accident is understandable, but almost drowning twice? His arms locked onto Tino and he dragged him to the surface. The Finn coughed and shuddered. He reverted back to his original position of a koala, hanging onto Berwald literally for his life. Berwald slowly carried him back to dry land, lying him down carefully. He thumped him on the back as Tino coughed up a small amount of water and rubbed the rest furiously away from his eyes.

He smiled weakly. "Oops."

"Seriously, Tino!?" Felix called. "You almost drowned a second time!? You have to be a special kind of stupid to be able to do that."

"Felix!" Toris reprimanded.

Berwald sent a frown over at Felix, which caused him to fall off his boyfriend's shoulders in terror. Hmph, serves him right. No one calls his Tino stupid.

"Hey, you okay mate?" Jack asked, leaning his hands on his knees. He had swum over as soon as Tino's head had gone under and had then followed them back to the shore.

Tino nodded. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. I'll think I'll go back to the tents though."

Berwald nodded. "Are you tired? Would you like me to carry you?"

"Uh, no. I'm tired, but I'm not _that_ tired." He smiled and stood up slowly, testing his shaky knees. He began to wobble back towards camp, falling over twice and slamming against a tree. "Oops, sorry Mr Tree."

Berwald rolled his eyes and picked Tino up again, ignoring any refusal, like usual.

"Hey! Come on, why do you keep doing this? It's not like I'm drunk. And I'm rarely ever drunk. Trust me, I can hold my liquor. When I get drunk, I get _drunk_. Like tell-my-secrets-drunk. Like party-on-the-roof-drunk. Like strip-and-run-through-the-streets-naked-drunk. Which I've never done!" he denied quickly. "But you get what I mean, right? You've been drunk before, haven't you?" Tino laughed. "A drunken Berwald. Now that's something I want to see."

* * *

Tino shivered and held his blanket around himself tighter. It was about eight o' clock, but it was practically pitch black. They were sitting around a small, small, small fire (they were in the bush, they weren't that stupid), roasting marsh mellows and, as you have it, telling ghost stories. There, a regular camping cliché.

"Okay, okay, I got one!" Felix exclaimed. "I got it off the internet." Toris smiled and rolled his eyes. He wrapped an arm around his partner. Berwald stared thoughtfully at that, filing that movement away for later.

"Okay, here it is. Computer; unable to connect to the internet. BOOM!" He cried, making Toris wince at his volume.

"Eduard would certainly find that a horror story." Tino commented.

Toris smiled. "I know one. It's one of the shortest horror stories ever written and possibly written by Stephen King. I don't remember it exactly, but here it is. You are the last person on Earth."

"Oh, dear God!"

"That's not the scary part, Felix. Anyway, you're the last person on Earth. You're sitting down, reading a book. You're then interrupted as someone knocks on the door."

There was silence for a moment as Tino and Felix figured it out. Felix was louder when he realised it. "Oh! Oh my God, that's scary! Who was it!?"

Toris shrugged. "I don't know, that was the end of it."

"What!?"

"Hey Berwald, do you know any?"

Berwald nodded. "One. There was a family, a mother, a father and a son. The parents argued a lot. One day, the father pushed the mother which caused her to trip and hit her head on the coffee table. She died."

"Well, that escalated quickly." Felix commented dryly.

"The father panicked, and wanted to get her out so his son wouldn't see. So he put her in the bag and hid her in his bedroom closet."

"Ew."

"Over the next few days, he became paranoid around his son. He thought that every time he opened his mouth, he was going to ask where his mother was. But he never did. So, he became suspicious. One day, he told his son that his mother was on vacation and wouldn't be back for a long time. The son looked confused and asked him what he was talking about. He said his mother had been here the whole time."

"Huh?"

"The father panicked and ran to his closet. The body was still in there."

"Zombie!"

"He came back to his son, who was seated opposite of the lounge. But he could see, poking out from the top of the lounge, the back of the mother's head. And the son was talking to her, as if nothing had happened."

"What happened!?"

"Eventually the father killed himself out of guilt and sadness."

"What!?" Felix exclaimed. "B-but what about the mother?"

"I don't remember."

Felix groaned. "Oh, come on! You guys suck!"

Tino smirked. "I've got a real scary one, too. But be warned, it's a little dark." **(AN- I wrote Tino's story myself, the rest I found off the internet or my friends.)**

Berwald raised an eyebrow. Obviously, he wasn't convinced.

"It's a true story. Well, there once was an old man who had lived alone in a house he had recently bought. Every night, he lay awake listening to the strange sounds of scratching and shuffling around his house. So, he set up cameras around his house to find out what was making those noises. He had assumed it was a bird, or a family of rats. He was wrong."

"What was it!?" Felix demanded excitedly.

"The next day he watched the tapes. Nothing happened for a while, until about three am. Out of the basement, came a fragile woman. Her skin was stretched tightly over her bones and was pale with an unhealthy, yellow pallor. She ran into the kitchen and grabbed some food, stuffing it ravenously into her mouth. The man was horrified, but then he realised, he hadn't seen her leave the house. She was still there, with him, in the basement. The man called the police and opened the basement and found the wild woman hiding in there hissing at them. Apparently, the previous owner had had an unwanted child, and had locked them away in the basement. He had ditched the woman there one day, only unlocking the lock from the outside. That's why the old man had never found her; she had never wanted to leave and had locked it from the inside."

Felix scrunched his nose. "That is so fake."

Tino glared. "It isn't, it happened in my village back in Finland. I knew that old man personally. I was there when the police dragged that poor woman out!"

Felix gulped. "But how could someone do that to their child?"

Tino shrugged. "You tell me, I'm always asking myself that."

Berwald frowned at Tino's answer, but didn't comment.

"Okay, I think we should be going to bed soon, it's getting pretty cold." Toris said. Tino nodded stiffly and headed into his tent without saying a word. Berwald headed after him, sharing confused looks with the others.

Tino snuggled into his sleeping bag, trying to rid himself of dark thoughts. He froze when he heard Berwald come in, get himself sorted and lie down next to him.

A few minutes later, Tino found himself shivering in the cold tent. Ten minutes later and he was full on shaking. Thirty minutes? He even had chattering teeth. Finally, Berwald had had enough.

"Are you cold?"

"No, not at all. W-why, are you?"

"Are you cold?"

"…Yeah, its freezing."

Shifting, Berwald began to unzip his sleeping bag before doing the same to Tino's. Without bothering to ask, he joined the two sleeping bags together with the zipper. Now Berwald's heat was beginning to share itself with Tino's icy half. Tino blushed as Berwald's heavy gaze fell on him.

"Better?"

"Uh, I guess." He quickly shut his eyes, trying to ignore how close he was to the Swede.

Five minutes later, he started shaking again. He gritted his teeth. He was from Finland! This was nothing compared to his home! But Berwald didn't seem to have his line of thinking as he placed an arm around the smaller man. Tino yelped.

"Better?"

Tino nodded frantically. "Um, yes, this is fine." Oh my God, Eliza was going to _freak!_

Ten minutes later Tino was sleeping peacefully, curled up like a cat against a very much awake Swede. The main thing Berwald was focusing on was a particular patch of the tent material. Yep, look at the cloth. Focus on the cloth. Absolutely do not nuzzle your friend's hair.

Oops, too late.

* * *

God DAMN IT! Why!? This wasn't fair! Come on, it was freezing outside! It was dark! It was nice and warm in the tent. Plus he was being hugged by a sleeping Berwald, which was always a bonus. Why did his bladder hate him so much?

Tino sighed. One must always submit to their un-relenting bladder. As carefully as he could, he slid out from his bag until he was sitting. But the movement caused Berwald to stir and wrap his arm tighter around his…. waist. Yeah, we'll say his waist. Berwald's hand was actually a little lower than that, but really, who was checking details?

Holding his breath, Tino slowly climbed out from his grip and snuck out of the tenet, only stumbling once on Berwald's foot. Thank God Berwald was a deep sleeper.

Creeping towards the toilet block, Tino hissed at the cold air. Dammit, why didn't he think like Felix and bring ugg boots? His feet were freezing. Dammit, it was so dark, he could barely see were the boy's side was. Maybe it was over- HOLY CHRIST FUCKING SHIT!

Tino screamed out in pain and clutched his left leg. He heard something hissed fiercely before bushes rustling.

"Tino!?" he heard Berwald cry out.

"I'm over here!" he called and Berwald came running over. He wasn't the only one as he saw Jack come sprinting over with- holy crap, was that a baseball bat!?

Berwald was not a deep sleeper. He was also not a morning person, or a night owl. So when Tino tried to get up, it was no surprise that he tried to keep him with him by holding him tighter. Of course, he had to let him go, so he snuck out after him when he left. Tino shouldn't go alone, like Felix said, this was the bush. There could be psychopaths out here.

He had lost him momentarily, but Berwald had located him pretty quickly when Tino screamed. His blood had run cold when he had seen the blood trail from his two, small wounds in the pale moonlight.

"Shit!" Jack cursed. "Snake bite! Hey, you!" He called over to the third family who had been staying at the campsite. He spoke to the old man. "Go ring the ambulance or something!" He turned to the boys. "Go get the little girl who stays with me. Tell her to bring the first aid kit!" The twins nodded frantically and ran to Jack's tent.

Worry made itself home inside Berwald. Would Tino be okay?

**AN- HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Cliffie! Crycrycrycrycry!**

**Hey, guess what? I HAVE 101 REVIEWS! OH MY FUCKING GOD! How did this happen!? This is AMAZING! I was hoping I'd get 60, at the very most! This is AWESOME! Thanks so much! And, this was a secret, but when I saw that I had 78 reviews, I thought that if ever got to one hundred, I'd write a fic/oneshot for the person who wrote the 100th review. And guess who that was?**

**YO GLITTERTRAILS! YOU'RE THE 100TH!**

**So, just PM me whenever ^_^ Now you shall all wait for the next chapter.**

**P.S I said Berwald was a light sleeper, so do you really think that Berwald had been asleep when Tino had been spooning him? ;) Berwald, you pervert XD**


	18. Chapter 18

**Afraid of Love**

**Chapter Eighteen**

Berwald held his head in his hands. He had never felt so utterly helpless before. Not since he was lost, so very long ago. He hadn't cared for someone like this for so long, had never felt this amount of worry, that Berwald had believed that he had long since forgotten how to care.

How to love.

"Um, excuse me sir? Are you Mr Berwald," the doctor checked his chart. "Oxen…. Ahem, may I call you Berwald?"

He nodded and stood up, towering the frizzy, brown haired man. The doctor pushed up his glasses nervously. "Um, hello, I'm Doctor Chris Furner, it's nice to meet you."

"I don't care." Berwald said shortly. It was true, he wasn't going to waste time being polite to this man. "Where is Tino?"

"Uh, that would be Tino Väinämöinen, yes?"

"Quit with pointless questions. Tell me where he is," he leaned in, never breaking I contact. "_now." _

He nodded quickly. "Okay, follow me!" He quipped and began walking brusquely down the hospital corridor. "You know, we really should to contact his next of kin."

Berwald grabbed the man by his shoulder and slammed him against the wall. "Why!? Is he in danger? How bad is it?"

"S-sir! I just need to inform them that he's in the hospital for paperwork! He's fine! He won't be in any danger!"

"Oh, good." Berwald said, backing down. He felt relief flood through him. It wasn't his fault if he was worried about Tino. Toris, Felix and him had been waiting in that hospital for nearly nine hours and hadn't been told a thing. Berwald had sent Felix and Toris to Tino's apartment to let his roommate know what had happened. Jack and Wy had also came, but Jack had taken Wy home after she had fallen asleep in one of the waiting chairs. He had given Berwald his number to keep him up to date on Tino's health. So, Berwald had been there all alone, worried out of his mind. No wonder he was uptight.

Dr Furner tapped on the door in front of them. "He's in here, but please be quiet, he's resting."

He nodded, and carefully opened the door and snuck inside. Drawing up a chair next to the Finn's head, he studied him carefully. It wasn't like the other nights when Berwald had been watching- ahem, guarding him, this time Tino was frowning uncomfortably in his sleep, occasionally tossing and turning. Berwald frowned. There was only so much he could do to protect him from his dreams.

"_Tino~" they sang. "Tino, come out! I miss you, why won't you come out?"_

_The little boy curled up behind the chair, breathing raggedly. His chest heaved and tears streamed down his face. Why were they doing this? Why would they do this to him? They were family!_

_Feet scrapped against the cool wood. "Tino? Please, why are you hiding?" _

_He felt a hysterical laugh rise. 'Why? Because of you! You're insane!' he raged in his head. His nails dug into his bony knees. His thin body was suddenly racked with wet, unrelenting coughs. The person hissed and started and started stalking towards him._

"_I here you~" they sang gleefully. _

_Tino's eyes locked on the two bony hands that reached over the chair. "Let's go play, Tino."_

"_No! Please, don-"_

_Suddenly he was seized. He cried out, it bit, he clawed, he screamed, but nothing prevented them from dragging him back to that room. Back to the trapdoor and down, down into the darkness below._

_They held him tightly, their hands exploring his small body. They whispered in his ear. "Remember, Tino, I love you."_

Tino's eyes snapped over and met glaring blue ones.

"OYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA A AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Berwald jumped to his feet and held him by his shoulders. "Tino, are you okay?"

Tino gasped, his chest heaving. He reached up and wiped as much sweat as he could from his brow. Tino returned his gaze to Berwald nervously. "Uh, hey."

"Hey." Berwald said monotonously.

"Um, I can explain that." He began.

Berwald shook his head. "No, I understand. I scared you," he sighed. "again."

Tino shook his head frantically. "No! No, not at all, you just surprised me, heh heh." Berwald didn't seem convinced. "I just had a bad dream."

"What was it about?"

Tino glared, his defence mechanisms kicking in. "That's _private."_

Berwald nodded. "Okay, how are you feeling?"

Tino collapsed back on the bed. "_Exhausted, _my head is killing me."

"Would you like me to ask the doctor for some medicine?"

Tino waved him off. "Nah, it's just a headache."

He gestured to Tino's wounded leg. "Is your leg okay?"

He smiled "Yeah, I'm pretty sure they gave me enough painkillers to kill a horse."

Berwald's eyes widened. "I hope not. I'll hurt them if they did."

Tino laughed. "No, I was kidding. Aw, you're so clueless. You know, it's nice to hear you talking so much. When I first met you, you were very quiet. Well, I suppose one would be quiet if the same person had crashed into them twice. But both times were accidents! And I still wasn't stalking you! I don't want you to think that I'm some crazy person who is, I don't, sadistic or something! I'm not like that, uh, well, not anymore. Um, wait, ignore that part! I'm just stupid, okay! Listen to me, rambling on and on and on and…" Tino trailed off when he realised what he was doing. He smiled sheepishly. "Oops, I did it again, didn't I? Sorry, I'll try to stop doing that."

Berwald almost smiled. "No, it's cute."

Tino blushed. "Oh, thanks, I guess."

Suddenly the door crashed open. "TINO!" A woman yelled and came crashing into the room, followed shortly by three men, the last, his doctor, who was stuttering about to many visitors.

Eliza almost crushed Tino's spine by hugging him. She eventually pulled away, studying him critically. "What the hell were you thinking!? Wrestling snakes, why would you do something so stupid?"

"What?" Tino looked over her shoulder at a snickering Roderick and a sheepish looking Eduard. "Who said- oh, never mind. Eliza, I was not wrestling snakes. I was merely walking in the dark and I stepped on one."

Eliza scoffed. "You were walking the dark? Really?"

"I needed to pee!" He defended.

"That's why you hold it in!"

"I couldn't!"

"Then piss yourself!"

"What!? One, that's gross. Two, I was sleeping with Berwald… Uh, I could have worded that better."

That couldn't be any truer, but it was too late. Elizaveta was positively _glowing. _"You were sleeping with Berwald!? Oh my God, I KNEW IT!" she began laughing madly, even doubling over and holding her sides.

Tino's cheeks turned red and he glanced at Berwald. "Again, oops. El- Eliza, calm down! It wasn't like that! I- Roderick help me!"

Roderick started laughing and shook his head. "No way, this is too good."

Tino rolled his eyes. "Whatever, Eliza, please shut up. You're embarrassing me. I was not _sleeping with him, _I was sleeping _in the same tent. _Got it?"

She looked up, beaming. He could see how bright red her face was. "Yeah, say whatever you want, Tino. Hey, could Roddy and I talk to you in private for a moment?"

"Uh, sure." Tino replied. The others filed out, Berwald slower than others, until it was only Eliza, Roderick and Tino left.

"So, what do you want guys?"

"Just admit it, Tino." Eliza said, deadpanned. "You like Berwald."

"What!?" Tino cried, half embarrassed, half outraged. "I do not!"

Eliza folded her arms. "Come on, Tino, we're your friends! Just tell us."

"B-but, I don't really, I don't know what would make you think that."

Roderick, who was leaning against the bed post, quirked an eyebrow. "You don't know? How about the half a dozen times you've hinted at it, or babble on about how much Berwald works, or his dog, or how he almost smiles, or how he can be so clueless its cute. Should I go on?"

Tino blushed. "Okay, so maybe I like him a little bit. But you can't tell anyone!"

Eliza squealed and clapped her hands. "Yes! I knew it! I knew it! I knew it! Aw, that's so cute!" She whirled around to her husband. "You know what we need to do."

Roderick nodded. "Of course." He held an arm out to her, which she accepted with a curtsey. "Shall we?"

Eliza nodded. "We shall."

"Hey, what are you guys planning?" Tino asked worriedly. "Whatever it is, don't do it!"

Roderick waved back at Tino as they headed out the door. "Ta ta, Tino! We'll send Berwald in!" Tino sighed and stared at the ceiling. True to their word, Berwald appeared in his doorway a few seconds later.

"Oh, hi, again."

Berwald hovered near then end of his bed. "Should I come back later? You seem tired."

"No, I'm good." Tino propped himself up on his elbow. "No, I'm good. How's everyone else. I caused quite a stir. Is Wy okay?"

Berwald nodded. "Yes, everyone is fine. I'm just glad that you're okay. I was worried."

"Well, I feel fine!" he chirped. "Except for the fact that I'm in the hospital, again Okay, if either one of us is going to the hospital next, it's you. I'm sick of always being damsel in distress."

Berwald looked confused. "But you're not a girl."

Tino snorted. "Never mind." He heard someone knocking on the door and looked up. He gulped. Leaning casually in the doorway, a smarmy smile on his face was his- wait for it- boss, Francis Bonnefoy. Tino glanced at Berwald, whose knuckles had turned white. Quick, he had to do something before things turned bad!

Berwald rose to his feet and strode to the end of his bed, glaring down at Francis. The French and flinched back, but kept a shaky smile.

"Oh, hello, ugly tall man, I didn't think you'd be here. After all, you aren't as close with Tino as _I_ am."

Tino winced and looked nervously at Berwald just in time to see a dark look cross his face. He shuddered. He hoped that he himself would never make him that angry.

"Go away." Berwald told him shortly. He would _not _let that man near Tino.

Francis sputtered. "Y-you can't talk to me like that!"

Berwald raised an eyebrow. "Yes I can, you're not my boss."

"Yeah, he's _mine." _Tino hissed, before smiling brightly at his boss. "Hi, Mr Bonnefoy! Heh heh, I'm sorry about this. I promise that I'll be working as soon as I can!"

Francis smiled and dodged around Berwald, who was not happy about it. "Ah, Tino, how are you? Don't worry about work, I'll take care of it." He placed a manicured hand on Tino's shoulder. Tino's nails dug into his palm as he tried to keep himself from shaking him off. He was already on thin ice, he didn't need to make it any worse. "Just concentrate on getting better." He brought out a bouquet of roses from behind his back. Tino's stomach plummeted, and he glanced guiltily at Berwald. The Swede was focused upon the flowers.

"Oh, thank you, Mr Bonnefoy." He could see him piece it together; the roses, the note in french.

Francis brushed his hair out of his eyes. "Please, call me Francis." Oh God, he hoped Berwald wouldn't do anything. No such luck.

"Don't touch him." Berwald began in a low, warning tone.

Francis turned back to him. "Excusez-moi?"

"Go away."

"Berwald," Tino warned. "Shut up, why don't you go outside?"

Francis yelled a hand up "No, if he wants to say something, why doesn't he go ahead?"

Berwald nodded. "Okay." Not giving any warning, he seized Francis by his upper arm and dragged him out of the room. But he didn't stop there, oh no. Berwald dragged the struggling French man down the hallway and dumped him outside on the steps.

"How dare you!" He raged, pointing a finger at him. A nurse, obviously disturbed by the ruckus, came outside and looked at Berwald questionably.

"I'm security." Berwald told her. Happy with this answer, the nurse went back inside.

Francis straightened his shirt. "Fuck you! Why don't you stop acting so jealous and fight me like a man!"

Berwald advanced towards him. "Alright. At least there is a hospital here for you." he told him calmly.

Francis back down quickly. "No, no! I have a better idea. Just stop right there. Here, why don't we make a deal?" Berwald stopped walking and waited. "Okay, if Tino chooses me, you back off. If, somehow, he chooses you, I'll back off." He held out his hand. "Deal?"

Berwald crushed the smaller man's hand in a handshake. "Deal."

Francis whimpered, rubbed his hand, and left, a scheming smile already on his face. He would win, and Tino would be his.

Berwald rounded the corner and returned to Tino's room. There were several doctors and nurses trying hold the struggling Finn down, but he stopped as soon as Berwald came in. "You!" he cried, pointing. "What the hell were you thinking!? I've probably been _fired! _Did you here that!?"

"No, you're not fired. We sorte-"

Tino was beyond listening. "Bullshit! Without that money, they'll kill me! That or they'll drag me back, and it's all your fault!" he raged.

Berwald felt worry claw at his stomach. "What are you talking about?"

"That's none of your fucking business, arsehole! Why the hell would you do that!?"

Berwald looked him dead in the eyes. "Because I care about you." Then he left.

That stopped Tino. His mouth snapped shut and he sighed. He hung his head. Dammit, now he'd have to apologise. But not right now, he still had to make sure he that he still had a job.

* * *

Tino stared, frustrated, at the switched off light swinging gently above his head. Damn, he hoped that it wouldn't fall on him. It was the middle of the night and he was still in the hospital, unable to sleep. He had lane awake for a while, thinking about Berwald. No, not like _that!_ He was just worried, that's all.

He had called Mr Bonnefoy not long after Berwald had left. He couldn't explain how relieved he had been to learn that he still had a job. Now he could keep up with his monthly payments to… ahem, anyway.

But now he had to ring Berwald. He needed to apologise, he couldn't just let him get angrier all night. Yeah, and also he wanted to sleep. Tino knew that wasn't going to happen until he knew Berwald wasn't upset with him. He checked the time on his phone: 12:48 am. That wasn't too late, was it?

He listened nervously to the phone ringing. He nearly yelped when he heard Berwald answer.

"Ja?"

"Oh, uh, hi!"

"…Tino?'

"Huh? Oh, yeah, that's me."

"…Go to sleep."

Tino winced. Maybe he should have just stayed up all night. "Um, well, I can't. Not yet. Sorry."

"That's okay."

"…."

"…."

"….Well?"

"Well what?"

"Why did you ring me?"

"Oh! Um, right. Well, I wanted to apologise. For yelling at you before. I didn't mean to do that, I was just stressed."

"It's okay." Tino heard yapping in the background. "Aw, is that your dog in the background? Hello puppy! Woof! Woof!"

"I just got that dog to sleep."

"Oops," Tino giggled. "That's okay, I'll sing it a doggy lullaby. Woof woof-woof woof woof woof! Woof! Woof! Yap!"

"Tino, you're delirious."

Tino laughed. "Am not! Hey, what's your dog's name again! I want to translate it into puppy talk!"

"Tino, go to bed!" Berwald said quickly. "Good night."

"Nighty-night, Berwald!"

**AN- Okay, time to explain Dr Chris Furner for the hundredth time. As a joke to my friend, I created an OC based on her in looks and name, but definably not in personaloty XD So, whenever I need a doctor, I always use him. Always. You can check my ohter story, Out of Sight, Out of Mind. He's in there too! **

**My favourite part of this chapter? When France yells "Fuck you!" at Berwald. Oh, yeah, there's a lot of swearing. Oops. Well, the situation called for it!**

**P.S I swear I'll write a sequel for OoS, OoM. **


	19. Chapter 19

**Afraid of Love**

**Chapter Nineteen**

**AN- I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry! *throws update at readers* It's late I know! The next one might also be late, sorry!**

"Ready, Roddy?" Eliza whispered in his ear.

He nodded. "Ready, let's do this." They both stood up from their kneeling position and strode casually away, Roderick towards the tables and Eliza around the back to duck inside the place. They were stalking Tino and Berwald at a café. It had been a week since Tino had finally been able to leave the hospital and Berwald had offered to take him to get some coffee today. Roderick scoffed. Yeah right, this was _so_ a date in disguise. It was a bit pathetic that they were still trying to hide their feelings from each other. Well, Eliza and he had come up with a plan, several plans, to get them together. He took a deep breath. Plan A, go!

"Hey, guys." He greeted, casually sliding into a chair across from them. "I was just walking by and I saw you two. How's it going?" he asked, looking meaningfully at Tino.

Tino gritted his teeth. He knew something like this was going to happen. This wasn't a coincidence, Tino had already told him where he would be! Roderick was up to something, and Eliza was sure to be close by. "Hi, Roderick. Everything is great. You can leave now."

Berwald was a little confused about how confrontational Tino was being. It wasn't like Roderick was doing anything wrong, was he?

Roderick leaned in, as if he was getting ready for a long gossip. "So, Tino, have you told him?"

Tino glared. "Told him what?"

Roderick grinned. "About your little crush."

"Who?" Berwald asked immediately."

"Roderick," Tino warned. He refused to play his game, but Roderick was stepping on a dangerous line! "shut up. _Now_."

Berwald rounded on Tino. "Who is it? Francis? Is it him?"

"What!? Ew, no, he's my boss! What the hell!?"

Roderick snickered. "You too, Berwald, tell Tino about your little crush."

Tino's mouth snapped shut. "You have a crush?"

Berwald's face burned. "No," he denied. Somewhat guiltily, Tino felt a little relieved. That meant he still had a chance.

Berwald continued. "I'm in love." He stated matter-of-factly.

Tino felt his stomach plummet, and he swallowed difficulty. He forced a smile onto his face. "That's great Berwald, who is it?"

Roderick felt like slapping his forehead. Was Tino really that stupid!? Or maybe he just had really low self-esteem? "Yeah, Berwald tell us who it is. It isn't polite to withhold things from your friends like a _joker_ would." Roderick finished loudly, while Tino looked at him suspiciously. That didn't even make any sense.

"Yes!" Eliza hissed. 'Joker' was their code word! Quickly, she snuck into the bushes just behind the two 'lovebirds', as she put it, and pressed play on her IPod. '

"_But if I had you, that would be the only thing I'd ever need_

_Yeah if I had you, then money, fame and fortune never could compete_

_If I had you, life would be a party it'd be ecstasy_

_Yeah, if I had you_

_You y-y-y-y-you_

_You y-y-y-y-you_

_You y-y-y-y-you_

_If I had you."_

There was silence. Berwald looked a little confused whilst Tino glared holes into Roderick's skull. Dammit, Eliza had played the wrong song! They hadn't agreed on this! Hey, she had changed the song, maybe it was… no, no, it was the wrong song again.

_"I wanna kiss you_

_But if I do then I might miss you babe_

_It's complicated and stupid_

_Got my ass squeezed by sexy Cupid_

_Guess he wants to play,_

_Wants to play_

_A love game_

_A love game."_

"Roderick," Tino hissed. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I-I'm not doing anything!"

Roderick denied frantically. Dammit, this plan was supposed to set the mood for them. A romantic mood, not an angry one. Oh thank God, she changed the song. Wait…. Dammit, Eliza! Why did she never listen to him?

_"You and me baby we ain't nothin' but mammals_

_So let's do it like they do on the Discovery Channel_

_Do it again now_

_You and me baby we ain't nothin' but mammals_

_So let's do it like they do on the Discovery Channel_

_Gettin' horny now"_

Tino's face burned. "Roderick!" he squeaked. "Turn it off!"

Roderick looked horrified. "I'm so sorry, I-"

Tino, not waiting for his reply, spun around and ripped the IPod out of Eliza's hands, quickly shutting it off. He then tossed it back to Eliza, who was still frozen in the bushes, before grabbing Berwald's wrist and pulling him away. "Come on, Berwald, let's go do something else."

Roderick, now sitting alone at the table, held his head in his hands. Eliza came and sat next to him, wrapping an arm around him casually. "Sing us a song, you're the piano man. Sing us a song tonight. Well, we're all in the mood for a melody. And you've got us all feelin' all right." She sang, grinning cheekily.

Roderick rolled his eyes. "Well, we tried. Plan B?"

Eliza nodded. "Plan B."

* * *

Francis flattened himself against the statue. Sure, he looked a little strange doing do in the middle of a busy place, but it was worth it. Like usual, he was spying. Yet again he had lost his brother, so he had been forced to follow Tino himself. He had discovered something interesting. Unfortunately, Tino was walking around with that lump of a man, but this time he wasn't the only person stalking them.

There were two others, a man and a woman, who were chasing them too. They had hidden themselves just opposite of Francis, both of them with their eyes locked on Tino, grinning like devils. Curious, he remained where he was and watched them.

Eliza straightened herself and strutted towards Tino and Berwald, holding a plate high in her right hand. She was dressed in Roderick's waiter uniform, complete with a sticky-taped on moustache and a short brow wig. She thought she looked quite the part.

Tino raised an eyebrow at her. "Eliza, what are you doing?"

"Vat?" she asked, pretending to be surprised and attempting a German accent. "Who iz zis Eliza who you zpeak of? I am ze… uh, I am Wolfgang! That iz my name."

Tino snickered. "That's the best name you could think of? And stop with that accent, it's ridiculous and offensive."

Eliza lowered the plate. On it was a red flower she had stolen from someone's back yard and a sandwich they had bought from a nearby shop. "I am Wolfgang, your waiter!"

"….You do realise we were just at a café, right?"

Eliza pursed her lips. "Here, why don't ze two love birdies have a romantic lunch, okay?"

"Are you even German anymore?"

"Just shut up and eat ze food!" Eliza snapped, dumping the plate on Berwald's lap. "Here, you hold this," she said, shoving the sandwich into a perplexed Berwald's hand. "And, you feed it to Tino, okay?" she began guiding towards the Finn, who stood up abruptly.

"Eliza, go do something else!" He demanded, pointing towards- oh, dammit! He was pointing at Francis! The French pervert quickly ducked behind the wall, only to peak out a few seconds later. He watched as the woman walked sadly away, Tino shaking his head.

Tino looked at Berwald. "I am so sorry, really, they are so embarrassing. Just ignore them."

Berwald shrugged. "It's okay. I think it's funny."

Tino raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? You don't look like you do."

Berwald focused, and slowly his eyebrows raised a little, making him appear to look slightly less… angry. "Better?"

Tino snorted. "Perfect. Come on, let's go somewhere else."

A few moments later, a defeated fake-waiter and a man sat where Tino and Berwald used to be.

Eliza turned to Roderick. "Plan C?" she asked half-heartedly.

"Yeah, plan C."

* * *

Tino and Berwald through the park. I know, how girly does that sound? Actually, they were heading towards the shopping centre as Tino had promised he'd pick up some things for Eduard. Also, Tino had to buy a new phone (apparently before he had fallen asleep that night at the hospital, he had thrown it at the wall for unknown reasons. Tino was pretty sure it had something to do with a penguin).

"TINO!"

The man mentioned grabbed Berwald's wrist and began dragging him forward. "I heard nothing!"

Berwald glanced over his shoulder and saw Eliza and Roderick racing after him.

Eliza flailed her arms. "TINO! Wait!"

"Why don't we jog?" Tino suggested sunnily.

"I know you can hear me!"

Tino sighed and let them catch up. Roderick, panting heavily, collapsed on Tino.

"I… am never running again. Ever!"

Tino shrugged him off. He had no pity for him at the moment. "What do you want this time?"

Roderick straightened up and smiled. "Oh, well, Eliza and I just wanted to accompany you and Berwald, right Eliza?"

Eliza nodded enthusiastically and strode beside Berwald. Tino frowned at them suspiciously. "What are you guys up to?"

Eliza grinned easily and drew Berwald a little away from them. "Nothing, Tino! Hey, Berwald-o? I would like to tell you something. Is that okay?"

Berwald, after glancing over at Tino who had a concerned look on his face, shrugged.

Eliza wrapped an arm around Berwald's shoulders. "Well, first, if you hurt Tino I will rip off your balls and fry them with a side of rice. Second, doesn't Tino look nice today?"

Berwald, not for the first time lost for words, nodded quickly. "He's b'utif'l."

Eliza squealed. "Aw! Now, look at his cute face. Look at his… erm, nice legs! Look at his, uh, sexy hips!" Meanwhile, Roderick was doing the same thing to Tino.

Roderick nudged him. "Hey Tino, look at Berwald."

"I already am." Tino replied dryly.

Roderick snickered. "Of course you are. Anyway, focus on his huge muscles. And look how tall he is. And what a handsome face!"

"Roderick, you do realise you're married, right? I think it's a little late to start batting for the other team now."

"Shut up and focus!"

Tino scowled "Can you two just leave us alone for today? I know I'm being really shitty about it, but I am getting ready to slap a bitch and guess who is the closest?"

Roderick sniffed daintily. "Fine, we were just trying to speed up your relationship, but if you don't want my help then fine!"

"There is no relationship." Tino hissed, his eyes glinting dangerously. "Got it?"

Roderick rolled his eyes before strolling off. "Yeah right, Tino. Who are you kidding?"

"Shut up. And stop trying to get us together. It's not going to happen, trust me."

Roderick laughed. "It will, trust me."

Tino sighed and strode a little ahead of him. When would they give up? Wasn't it obvious that he didn't want their help? Unknown to Tino, though, things were about to get so much worse.

Like, right now.

"Tino! How are you?" A certain blonde, froggie called.

"M-Mr Bonnefoy!?" Oh come on! This just wasn't fair!

Francis smiled cockily and held Tino's shoulders lightly. "I told you, call me Francis."

"Right, um, why are you here?" Tino shook his head quickly. "Sorry, that came out wrong. Um, when did you get here? No, that's not it. Uh…"

Francis wrapped an arm around the smaller blonde. "Francis, Tino, call me Francis. I'm not just your boss, I'm also your friend, oui? As for your earlier question, I was just taking a simple stroll that is all. Just look at how beautiful the park looks today! But it's beauty is nothing compared to a certain blonde, am I right?" Francis winked, making Tino's face burn in embarrassment.

"Oh, do you mean Berwald?" Eliza asked innocently. She was not stupid. She was a matchmaker herself and she could see when someone was moving in on her client- er, friend.

"No." Francis answered, deadpanned. He looked down as his phone began to vibrate. Sighing he answered it. "Bonjour? Oh, hello Mattie. What do you want? I'm a little, uh, busy." Francis face suddenly went pale. "Sh, sh! It is okay, calm down. I'll be right there. Good bye, Tino! I must go!" Francis shouted before he took off running. Tino frowned. That didn't sound good. He hoped Mathew was okay.

Eliza scoffed. "Thank God he's gone. I don't like him!"

Roderick nodded. "He isn't known for being subtle. Oh. Berwald that reminds me, I need to tell you something." He quickly led the Swede away from the other two and sat him down on a bench. Folding his arms, he looked down upon him, the sun's glare reflecting brightly on his glasses.

"Berwald, we need to have a discussion." At Berwald's nod, he continued. "Let's talk about sex." Berwald's eyes widened but Roderick quickly rushed forward before he could interrupt. "I just want to make sure your educated when you and Tino finally become a couple- but I'm pretty sure Tino would be waiting until marriage. Oh, don't give me that look it's obvious you like him, I'll help you out with that in a moment."

Berwald nodded. "I… I like Tino. I love him. I want him to be my…"

Roderick clapped. "Okay, you can share the mushy feelings with Eliza and some ice cream. Now, let me explain sex to you. Don't worry, Eliza taught me this when she thought I was after this Gilbert boy. Now, make sure you have plenty of lu-"

Berwald stood up abruptly. "I know." He walked briskly back to Tino, a poker face in play.

"B-but, I didn't finish…"Roderick scowled. Dammit, he needed to be properly educated!

* * *

**The Next Day**

**Berwald's P.O.V**

Berwald began hammering the wood into the framework. To most people, being outside on a windy Saturday wouldn't be good to them, but Berwald could easily withstand it. Australia's 'cold' was nothing compared to his country's.

_I'm bringing sexy back (Yeah!)_

_Them other boys don't know how to act_

_I think you're special, what's behind your back?_

_So turn around and I'll pick up the slack._

_Take 'em to the bridge_

Berwald inwardly winced and hurriedly answered his phone. Somehow, Felix had changed ringtone to a popular song. He had yet to earn how to change it back. "Hello?"

"Berwald!" Roderick's calm voice answered. "Hi, how are you? That's great, now let me tell you something."

Berwald was a little confused, he hadn't answered Roderick's question. "Um… okay."

"Good, now, you like Tino, correct?"

"…Yes." Berwald was a little suspicious of where this was going. "Am I on speaker?" He asked suddenly. It wouldn't do for Tino to hear him say that again. That would be embarrassing.

"No, I'm not that cruel. Now, let me give you a few tips on how to win Tino's affection…"

* * *

Berwald knocked on the door of Tino and Eduard's apartment. He had planned it carefully. He knew for a fact that Tino was at work now and would be for the next couple of hours, courtesy of Roderick.

Eduard opened the door, only to have Berwald walk straight past him and start pulling up pillows and then just as quickly placing them back. "Um, hi? What are you doing?"

Berwald didn't answer and instead headed into the kitchen. He began opening drawers, placing a small piece of paper inside and then moving onto the next drawer.

Eduard cleared his throat. "Again, what the hell are you doing?"

Berwald finally looked up at Berwald. "Hiding notes." He answered simply. He wandered over to the curtains and tugged them. Maybe he could paperclip one? He quickly shook his head at the stupid idea and moved on.

"Where is Tino's room?"

Eduard, still perplexed pointed to a room past the lounge room. Heading over there, Berwald planted three notes on the coffee table. One under a coaster, one in the drawer and the last next to a cup.

The first thing Berwald noticed was the roses on the bedside table. Glaring, he stuck quite a few in between the petals.

Eduard scowled. "Why are you 'hiding' notes everywhere?"

"They're for Tino." Berwald answered from underneath Tino's bed.

Eduard scoffed. "Well that's obvious. Why are you hiding notes for Tino?"

"So he can find them."

Eduard gritted his teeth. He got enough of the bull from his students, he didn't need it from anyone else. "Why!?"

Berwald didn't answer. Eduard eventually got sick of waiting and peaked at one of the notes stuck on the ceiling fan- wait, when the hell had he stuck it up there!?

_You are beautiful._

'Oh God, is he really….' Eduard shook his head.

"Berwald, are you hiding…. love notes?"

The big man nodded. "Roderick said Tino would like the surprise. But I'm not allowed to say they're from me. They're from a secret admirer."

Eduard paused, thinking. "So… do you want help?"

Berwald almost smiled.

* * *

"Hello, my good friend!" Tino called cheerfully as he entered their place. "Whatcha doi- huh?" He had stumbled over something. Looking down, he picked up the object and studied it.

"Um, Eduard," he began, walking into the lounge room. Eduard was sitting on the couch, barely containing his excitement. "Why do I have a love heart box… of chocolates. And a… poem?"

Tino rubbed the back of his neck. "Um, Eduard, I know we're close but I thought it was pretty clear that I wasn't interested in you."

Eduard slapped his arm. "Tino! They're not from me!"

Tino snickered. "I know, I think I have a pretty good gues who they're from, though."

"Dipshit."

"You love me." Tino plopped himself down on his seat, unwrapping one of the chocolates. He held up the piece of paper and began to read it out loud.

"Dear Tino,

Roses are red

Violets are blue

You are very pretty

I love you.

Dear Tino,

Roses are red

Violets are blue

Why don't you trust me?

I trust you.

Dear Tino,

Your lips are as red as roses

Your skin is as white as snow

You must be Snow White

So I'm Prince Charming.

Signed, Ber- um, you secret admirer, "

Tino giggled. "These rhymes are so weird, but cute!" He raised an eyebrow at Eduard. "You wouldn't happen to know who left these, now would you?"

Eduard shook his head. "Nope, I never saw them. I didn't even know the box was there."

"The box was inside. Either they broke in or you let them in."

"I guess they broke in then."

"You were here all day! Why would they break in!? Why not just leave it outside?"

Eduard shrugged. "I don't know. Well, I got to sleep now, night Tino!" Eduard fled to his room, Tino shaking his head. The Finn looked back at the clumsy poem and smiled. 'Oh, Berwald, why are you so cute?' he asked himself. Why was even bother to keep it a secret?

He could ask himself the same question. Why not just tell Berwald how he felt? Why not just get it over with, for better or for worse? Tino sighed. Oh, yeah, he was a freak. He was scared. He was dirty. He was tainted. Tino had a string of problems following him. Once Berwald found out about them, he wouldn't want to be with him.

Tino straightened suddenly, an idea forming in his head. Well, there would be some problems that couldn't be ignored, but he could still be with him, right? I mean, what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him, right?

With that almost comforting thought, Tino hugged the poem to himself and curled up with his chocolate, totally not dreaming of a shirtless Berwald reading him poetry.

,

* * *

Okay, he was going to do it! He was going to ask him! Berwald was going to ask Tino out on a date! Well, not technically a date. More of an unofficial, off the record, keep the details to yourself going to a fun place thing. Oh, geez, it sounded like it was about to kidnap him!

Berwald sighed, calming himself and knocked on Tino's door yet again. The cheerful blonde himself answered the door with a smile.

"Hey, Berwald, I've been meaning to see you." He giggled and swung on his heels. "It must be fate! Oh, come in!"

Berwald swallowed nervously and followed his friend inside, sitting on the couch. "Uh, Eduard's gone?" Berwald asked after a long silence.

"Uh, yeah, he's at the school."

So much for meaning to see him, Tino wasn't saying anything at all. Now that he thought about it, Tino was being really quiet. Tino was never quiet, not unless something was wrong. Berwald studied him carefully. There were heavy bags underneath his eyes.

"Have you been sleeping okay?"

Tino looked startled. "Um, fine, more or less. Just a nightmare or two, it's no biggie."

"Nightmare?" he questioned. "What was it about?"

Tino gritted his teeth. "I said it was no biggie. It's nothing."

"It doesn't sound like nothing." He quickly countered.

Tino stood up, anger colouring his cheeks a little. "It's none of your business!" he snapped. Then, his shoulders slumped. All of his fight seemed to leave him. "Just… just stay out of it, okay?" Tino collapsed on the couch next to him, hiding his head in his hands. Alarmed, Berwald managed to regain enough composure to wrap an arm gently around Tino. To his dismay, though, he was quickly pushed away.

"I-I'm sorry, I don't want anyone to touch me. I'm sorry, I've got so many problems. I'm sorry… I…"

Berwald raised a hand to stop his babbling. "Tino, it's okay, I don't care about your problems. We can work through them together."

Tino's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Of course, you're my friend." Berwald smiled.

Wait, what?

Berwald _smiled_.

Tino couldn't help but smile, too. Berwald just looked so kind, so cute, so caring when he smiled. He wished that he could always see him smile. But then, would it still be so special in moments like this? No, he decided. That was Tino's own special smile, and he had no guilt in claiming it.

"Aw, Berwald, you look so cute when you smile." Dammit, he shouldn't have said anything! Now Berwald had turned away, his usual glare/stare in place.

Berwald cleared his throat. "Uh, Tino, can I ask you something?"

Tino's ask instantly came down. "Sure, what is it?"

"I saw a sign that said there was a carnival on. Fisher's Ghost, or something. I was wondering if you wanted to go."

Tino squealed and clapped his hands excitedly. "Oh my god, I love festivals. Well, it's not really a festival, but its close enough! Oh, I'm so excited! I'll totally go with you! It'll be so much fun!"

Berwald felt his insides glow. Success! Tino had just agreed to his unofficial keep-to-himself date! Now, all he had to do was hint that he liked him on the date, just like Roderick said!

**AN- Dear Anon for reasons**

**I'm sorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorry! I just- Um, I….**

**I don't have an excuse :(**

**My best answer is: I'm an idiot and did not think that through properly. I know in real life, people would not let themselves be touched if they have that fear. But, in my fanfiction, I just wanted to show that, for a second, Tino trusted Berwald and have a cute moment. I was mainly focusing on Berwald for that scene.**

**I don't how to fix this now! A-and it IRKED you!? Why, why is whenever someone calls out my mistake when I'm writing, they say it irked them!?**

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRRRRRKKKKKKKKKKKNEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSS! I swear, that word is following me! *shifty eyes***

**Erm, do you forgive me? Please? I-I'll do anything! Most of Tino's reactions are guesswork, really. *crawls into pit of shame***

**Okay, you asked for it! I have to give out a little spoiler to save myself. Tino's fear of being touched is amplified much much more if he is touched by- You know what? No! NONONONO! I am not giving out that spoiler for anyone!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Afraid of Love**

**Chapter Twenty**

Multi-coloured lights twinkled above them. People ducked and weaved through the crowd, trying to avoid kicking the smaller kids that dashed between them. Fairy floss was discarded onto the grass sporadically, joined by hot chips and bits of paper. High-pitched squeals and giggled resounded throughout the air from the various rides, while the younger children ran about or moaned about how tired they were. As expected, Tino was among the children who ran about excitedly, now lining up for a third helping of fairy floss (or candy floss, whatever).

Tino trotted back to Berwald, holding his prize high in the air. "Hahaha, this place is the best, isn't it Berwald?" Tino collapsed back into a fit of giggles. Berwald was pretty sure he was on a sugar high. Note to future self: Keeps tabs on how much sugar Tino consumes.

"Ja, this place is nice. A bit noisy, though."

Tino pouted. "It's still the best place ever. Almost as good as the North Pole." Tino was quickly distracted by a giant blue dog toy that he must absolutely have and went to play for it. Berwald followed him closely, being careful not to lose him in the crowd and wandering if Tino seriously thought the North Pole was real.

After a gruelling match of throw the ball in a clowns mouth, Tino, Berwald and their new friend Mr Blue Dog headed towards Tino's next ride on his list of FanTABULOUS rides (it was created recently): the Farris wheel.

"Aw, the lines so long!" Tino complained. There were at least twenty people in front of them, including two prams. "Actually, that might not be so bad, I really need to pee! I'll be right back!" Tino called as he sprinted towards the white trailer/toilet block to the right of them.

After taking care of his business, Tino splashed water onto his face and studied his reflection. He sighed. Needing to pee wasn't the only reason he dashed over here. He seriously needed some time to think.

Was this a date!? I mean, Berwald hadn't said it was, but it sure seemed like one. After all, he was being very helpful, and kind and nice. But that was how he usually behaved, so…? Ugh, he was so confused! Tino really needed to get things straight with him.

Tino returned to Berwald just as he reached the front of line. "Ooh, I hope we get the blue one! ...Aw, red." Tino ducked and entered the carriage (?). He winced as he saw Berwald bump his head on the top. He felt the carriage tilt drastically when Berwald sat next to him and quickly switched to the other side to try to balance it out. Tino returned back to Berwald when he realised that it was a pathetic attempt and it looked as if he didn't want to be next to him.

Tino grinned and felt his anticipation rise as the Ferris wheel turned slowly and they rose to the top. "I hope we stop at the top!" he babbled. "That's my favourite part! But it's really bad to go on this ride with me because I always stand up and jump or swing it! I have this really great urge to spit." He said suddenly and swivelled around. He stuck his head out and judged his surroundings. Maybe when they were right at the top, no one would notice who spat on them.

Berwald chuckled, before quickly trying to pass it off as a cough. The Finn was too excited to sit still, it was like he had ADD. Berwald felt his stomach swirl as Tino rocked the carriage again. He tried to focus on the floor and ignore the view around him. He really wasn't too good with heights.

"Yeah, we got stuck at the top!" Tino cheered. After a minute of running/hobbling around, he finally settled down next to Berwald and beamed up at him. "As I said, before, this is the best place ever!" He turned back around to study the rides around them.

Berwald swallowed nervously. Making sure Tino was looking away, he raised his arm slowly and –ever so gently- laid it across Tino's shoulders. Or he would have, if Tino hadn't shifted at that very moment and Berwald whipped his hand back quick smart.

Okay, he'll try again. Faking a yawn, Berwald stretched his arms and ever so slowly rested his arm over Tino's shoulders. Yes, he did it! Berwald felt excited that he had achieved something. Now it felt even more like a real date!

Tino froze. Did Berwald seriously just use the arm move on him? Really? Tino wasn't a girl! Why was Berwald the one doing all the cliché guy moves?

"Uh, Berwald, your arm is on me."

"Oh, sorry. Right." Berwald quickly snatched is arm back. Embarrassed, he glared at the floor. Damn, now everything was awkward, He wished the wheel would already turn.

Stubbornly, Tino decided to show that he was as much as a man as Berwald was. Of course, he did this by mimicking what Berwald did. Tino really didn't want to touch Berwald. But he wasn't about to let himself be contained by his irrational fear! He reached up and stretched, ignoring his fear as best as possible and attempted to wrap an arm around his shoulders. Key word: attempted. Berwald was _way _too tall and Tino just made a fool out of himself by falling on the floor. Damn.

Well, at least the wheel was turning now.

**AN- Oh guys, I'm so sorry. I just felt so guilty, I had to update with what I had. I'm sorry it's so small. I've just been feeling so bad, emotionally, lately, that I ignored writing. But I have an idea for a small story of my own, so I'll start on that, which I know will make me write this ASAP. **

**I just have a really paranoid feeling that my friends will ditch me and I'll be alone. I'm terrified of that idea, even more so because it's happened to me so many times by others. I just fucking cried! What the fuck is wrong with me!? **

**I just don't want to be alone.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Afraid of Love**

**Chapter Twenty-one**

Berwald pulled up at the block of apartments where Tino lived. Unbuckling is seatbelt, Tino turned to Berwald and smiled. "Tonight was the best! I can't wait until next year's one. Oh, we should go to Luna Park sometime. It'll be awesome!" he climbed out the car. Tino paused, chewing his lip uncertainly. "Hey, Berwald, you wouldn't want to stay for a while, would you?" he asked shyly. "It's just that Eduard won't be home for a while and I don't really feel like being alone right now…"

Berwald quickly hopped out of his car and locked it.

Tino smiled, bemused. "I'll take that as a yes then." He waved him over and led him to his door, unlocking it and dumping his jacket on a chair. "Sit anywhere. I got to go pee." He half-sprinted to the bathroom.

Berwald quickly checked underneath the lounge, and was a little disappointed to find that his little slips of paper were still there. Had he found any yet? Surely he must have. Should Berwald say anything? But that would just be giving away that they were from him.

Tino returned, now carrying two drinks. Handing one to Berwald, he sat down next to him. But just as he did so, though, his phone rang.

"Hello?" Tino answered. Quickly his expression changed from one of panic to a forced smile. "Oh, hey Ivan! Long-time no talk!" He mouthed a quick 'sorry' at Berwald and stood up and paced slowly around the room. "Yeah, I'm sorry I haven't called. A lot of things have been happening, it think I was in the hospital like twice! I don't know, I lost count. Oh, no I'm fine! It wasn't serious. I kinda almost drowned the first time and was bit by a snake the first. …What? No, there are not snakes everywhere! I was camping! Yeah, yeah, I know, I should have been wearing shoes. Sorry. …. I was with my friend Berwald and some others." Tino paused and looked at Berwald. "Uh, yeah, he's actually right here." He held out the phone to the Swede, smiling apologetically.

Berwald took the phone. "…'ello?" he said cautiously. A voice with a Russian accent answered him.

"Why, hello! I am Ivan. You are Berwald, da?"

"Yes. Who is Ivan?"

The voice chuckled, unsettling Berwald deeply. Now, Berwald wasn't a person who was intimidated easily, but there was something about that voice… It _sounded _happy, but Berwald wasn't so sure that was how Ivan really felt.

"I am little Tino's big cousin! He is like my baby brother." The voice lowered, growing darker but somehow not losing its light tone. "Do not hurt little Tino again, or I will get rid of you?" Ivan seemed to instantly brighten after he delivered the threat. "Right? Okay, put Tino back on."

Berwald woodenly handed the phone back to Tino, who was chewing his lip nervously. "Uh, Ivan can I call you back tomorrow? I'm really tired and- jeez, wouldn't it be one pm there or something? Shouldn't you be going to work?"

"I go to work at six."

"Yeah, I mean-" Tino whispered. "I mean your _other _work. The not-so-legal work."

"That never ends."

"Oh, right." Tino giggled nervously. "Well, see ya!"

"Bye bye!"

Tino hung out and let out a relieved sigh. It was best to stay out of his cousin's 'activities'. "So, what did he say to you."

Berwald shrugged. "He told me to make sure you didn't get hurt again."

Tino quirked an eyebrow. "Uh huh, and I'm also sure he gave you his permission to marry me." Berwald flushed red at Tino's joke. "Come on, he threatened you, didn't he?"

"….No."

Tino scowled. "Ugh, he always does this! I could never make any friends because the second I brought them over he would scare them off by _smiling _at them! How can someone make a _smile _scary?" Tino sighed and sat on the lounge again. "Ugh, listen to me bitching. I have to be a little grateful, after all, he did practically raise me. I mean, his mum was there too, but she was always sick. He had to look after both of us."

Berwald wasn't sure what to do. Tino was looking pretty depressed and he was terrible with words. So he went with the only thing he could think of. Reaching over, Berwald lightly wrapped an arm around his friend. Tino stiffened for a moment. Berwald wasn't totally oblivious, he let go after a few seconds. He hoped that had helped.

**AN- Thankyou guys SO MUCH for being so nice to me! I'm feeling a litte better now. I'm still a paranoid freak, but there's not much I can do about that. Okay, next chapter is a fresh chapter! New plot point, new POV! I hope next one will be back on track!**


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